mm^^^ 


^W^^'^i' 


<:};m 


■t'^^' 


'^y*  '.vW-i'^'' '■'■■■        .    .■■■ 


mmmm 


isfgsiii: 


1 

PRINCETON,    N.  J.                               "^  ^ 

Purchased  by  the  Hammill   Missionary  Fund. 

BV    2060    .G3    1896                           ^ 
Galloway,    Charles   B.    1849- 

1909. 
Modern  missions 

- 

..... 



MODERN  MISSIONS 


THEIR  EVIDENTIAL  VALUE. 


(Cole  Lectures  for  1896.) 
y  0^^^ (k^-^ \\  \^u      l>L  ice  t^*- ^  V  t>Y  . 


BY  CHARLES  B.  GALLOWAY,  D.D.,  LL.D., 

A  Bishop  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South. 


Nashville,  Tenn.: 
Publishing  House  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South. 
Barbee  &  Smith,  Agents. 
j  1896. 

\ 


Entered,  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1896, 

By  the  Board  of  Trust  of  Vandkrbilt  University, 

In  the  Office  of  the  Librarian  of  Congress,  at  Washington. 


CONTENTS. 

LECTURE  L  page 

The  Question  Stated;  or,  The  Answering 
Voice  of  History i 

LECTURE  IL 
Christianity  and  Other  Religions 35 

LECTURE  IIL 
Portable  Evidences  from  Many  Lands.  ...     77 

LECTURE  IV, 
Fruits  from  Various  Fields 115 

LECTURE  V, 
The  Message  of  Missions  to  the  Church  . .   155 

LECTURE  VL 
Lessons  from  Some  Master  Missionaries  . .    193 


LECTURE  I, 


THE    QUESTION    STATED;    OR,    THE    AN- 
SWERING VOICE  OF  HISTORY. 


THE  QUESTION  STATED  ;  OR,   THE  ANSWERING 
VOICE  OF  HIS  TORT. 

THE  subject  selected  for  this  course  of  lectures 
by  the  Faculty  extending  the  invitation  is  my 
apology  for  accepting  a  service  for  v^hich,  by 
taste  and  training,  I  have  an  unaffected  sense  of 
unfitness.  The  subject,  and  not  the  position, 
though  most  honorable,  constrained  my  accept- 
ance and  accounts  for  my  appearance.  Having 
recently  enjoyed  the  privilege  of  inspecting  sev- 
eral of  the  great  mission  fields  of  the  w^orld,  it 
seemed  incongruous  that  I  should  positively  de- 
cline, hov^ever  meager  might  be  my  contribution 
to  the  discussion  of  so  exalted  a  theme.  The  sub- 
ject contemplates  not  so  much  a  plea  for  Missions 
as  a  study  of  Missions,  not  so  much  an  enforce- 
ment of  obligation  as  a  report  of  the  results  of 
investigation.  It  is  hoped,  however,  that  the  re- 
port and  its  study  will  prove  a  persuasive  plea  for 
Missions  and  an  additional  enforcement  of  our  di- 
vine indebtedness  to  the  Christless  world.  Such 
a  line  of  argument,  harmonizing  as  it  does  with 
the  energetic  and  practical  life  of  the  age,  ought 


4  MODERN   MISSIONS. 

to  be  the  strongest  and  most  impregnable  defense 
of  our  Christian  religion.  There  is  no  enthusiasm 
in  apologetics  which  are  no  more  than  **  a  vindi- 
cation of  the  original  guarantees  of  Christianity  or 
of  the  documents  in  which  it  was  first  enshrined." 
That  line  of  apology  is  not  to  be  underrated,  nor 
is  it  to  be  overestimated.  A  religion  that  is  *'  mere- 
ly capable  of  defense  "  can  never  command  the 
homage  of  mankind,  and  will  never  stir  the  **  en- 
thusiasm of  humanity."  Canon  Freemantle  has 
thus  forcefully  characterized  the  essential  quality 
of  religion:  *' It  must  inspire  and  lead,  or  else  it 
dies.  We  must  show  that  it  is  capable  of  influ- 
encing, stimulating,  and  guiding  the  progress  of 
humanity;  and,  further,  that  the  world  itself  de- 
mands the  Christian  religion  as  alone  capable  of 
sustaining  its  hope  and  its  energy." 

My  appointment,  therefore,  is  to  speak  more  as 
a  witness  than  an  advocate — to  testify  rather  than 
to  defend.  I  shall  not  consider  the  grounds  and 
obligations  of  Missions — will  not  attempt  to  set 
forth  the  principles  underlying,  or  the  motives  in- 
spiring, or  the  authority  requiring,  a  world-wide 
evangelism — but  will  turn  an  ear  to  the  fields  them- 
selves and  listen  to  the  message  they  have  to  send. 
We  are  to  '*  ask  the  days  that  are  past "  and  pass- 
ing, and  give  earnest  heed  to  the  '*  answering  voice 


THE   QUESTION  STATED.  5 

of  history."  We  will  consider  not  so  much  what 
the  Scriptures  command  as  what  experience  con- 
firms. Thus  we  will  ascertain  some  of  the  great 
truths  modern  Missions  disclose  and  exemplify. 
If,  as  has  been  declared,  '*  history  is  the  supreme 
test  of  all  things,"  we  are  concerned  to  know  its 
verdict  as  to  the  virtue  and  power  of  the  gospel 
to  redeem  the  nations. 

Dr.  Fairbairn  has  said  that  *'it  is  the  function 
of  the  philosophic  historian,  the  man  of  science  in 
the  field  of  religion,  to  get  by  analysis  at  the  whole 
history  of  the  genesis  of  the  ideas  that  create  our 
religious  institutions."  So  ambitious  a  purpose  is 
not  contemplated  in  these  lectures;  but  the  facil- 
ities and  materials  for  such  a  searching  and  final 
analysis  are  at  hand,  and  have  been  furnished  by 
the  missionaries.  We  occupy  the  highest  vantage 
point  in  history  for  the  thorough  study  of  Chris- 
tianity. By  virtue  of  this  fact,  we  are  better  able 
than  any  former  generation  to  form  a  correct  esti- 
mate of  its  spirit,  doctrines,  and  ethical  system,  as 
compared  with  other  religions.  And  for  this,  by 
general  admission,  we  are  indebted  to  the  achieve- 
ments and  revelations  of  modern  Missions.  They 
have  not  only  illustrated  the  power  of  Christianity 
as  a  redemptive  agency,  but  have  also  introduced 
the  world  to  a  larger  acquaintance  with  all  reli- 


6  MODERN  MISSIONS. 

gions.  We  have  broader  knowledge  of  the  life 
and  literature  of  hitherto  unknown  peoples,  and 
are  in  consequent  possession  of  "  a  key  to  hearts 
and  intellects  which  previously  were  closed  to  our 
approach."  If,  therefore,  our  plan  of  argument 
does  not  require  an  attempt  to  ascertain  the  **  gen- 
esis" of  religious  ideas,  we  will  try  to  trace  their 
influence — will  go  down  the  stream,  especially  of 
modern  history,  and  see  if  it  be  true  in  fact,  as 
Ezekiel  saw  in  vision,  that  "  everything  shall  live 
whither  the  river  cometh." 

Bernard,  in  his  Bampton  Lectures  on  "  The 
Progress  of  Doctrine  in  the  New  Testament," 
observes  that  '^  every  age,  every  Church,  every 
sect,  every  controversy,  in  some  way  or  other  con- 
tributes something  to  the  working  out,  the  testing, 
or  the  illustrating  of  some  part  of  the  revelation  of 
God."  Our  inquiry,  therefore,  will  be  as  to  what 
disclosures  modern  Missions  have  made  to  the 
Church — what  additions  to  the  history  of  Chris- 
tian doctrine  and  what  distinct  contributions  to 
the  evidence  and  defense  of  the  gospel.  It  is 
asserted  that  Christianity  is  inherently  expansive 
and  progressive — that  its  nature  is  to  grow.  The 
growing  years  should,  therefore,  be  a  continuing 
display  of  its  divine  character — a  revelation  of 
Christ   additional  to  the  thrilHng  records  of  the 


THE   QUESTION   STATED.  7 

New  Testament,  and  a  constant  **  evolution  of  the 
Holy  Ghost"  in  the  rational  and  moral  conscious- 
ness of  the  Church.  And  this  is  the  Christian's 
high  claim.  He  contends  not  with  Dionysius  that 
**  history  is  philosophy  teaching  by  examples,"  nor 
with  Matthew  Arnold  that  it  is  a  mere  *'  stream  of 
tendency,"  but  rather  that  history  is  the  move- 
ment of  God  in  providence  and  grace.  That  as 
in  the  Old  Testament  history  there  is  an  unmis- 
takable discernment  of  "  one  Presence  and  one 
increasing  purpose,"  so  the  later  history  of  the 
Church,  especially  the  story  of  missionary  en- 
deavor, reveals  a  Saviour  *'  come  and  coming," 
and  one  *'  mighty  to  save." 

The  divine  purpose  to  make  the  progress  of  the 
Church  a  **  continuous  and  cumulative  exhibition  " 
of  Christ  as  the  world's  Redeemer  and  Lord  is  thus 
stated  by  Bishop  Westcottin  a  single  luminous  sen- 
tence :  ' '  The  history  of  Christianity  is  the  histofy  of 
the  slotv  and  prog?' essive  efforts  that  have  been  made 
to  gain  and  to  embody  an  adequate  knowledge  of 
Christ  in  the  fullness  of  his  twofold  nature,  of  the 
eternal  revealed  under  the  conditions  of  time,  of 
the  earthly  raised  to  the  heavenly,  of  the  harmony 
that  is  established  potentially  between  man  and 
humanity  and  God,  under  the  continuous  guiding 
of  the  living  Spirit." 


8  MODERN  MISSIONS. 

Now  it  is  the  aim  of  these  lectures  to  discover, 
if  possible,  how  far  this  divine  ideal  has  been  made 
actual  in  the  history  of  modern  Missions.  This 
should  not  be  a  very  difficult  task,  for  Christianity 
is  essentially  historical.  It  is  *'  not  a  mere  spirit, 
a  spirit  unclothed ;  "  but  projects  itself  into  the  life 
and  institutions  of  the  world,  and  seeks  to  mold 
and  control  them  for  its  own  lofty  and  beneficent 
ends.  It  is,  therefore,  a  religion  of  facts  as  well  as 
ideas,  and  by  those  facts  its  ideas  are  to  be  tested 
and  its  virtues  measured.  And  if  they  stand  the 
test,  which  ought  to  be  searching  and  severe,  the 
argument  is  complete;  for  as  Dr.  Fairbairn  has 
well  said,  **  There  is  no  logic  like  the  logic  of  fact; 
there  is  no  law  of  reason  so  inevitable  as  the  law 
that  fulfills  itself  in  historical  movement." 

And  this  is  God's  favorite  method  of  instruction 
and  revelation.  The  Scriptures  are  largely  given 
up  to  narrative.  The  Bible  is  not  so  much  a  man- 
ual of  doctrine  as  the  story  of  God's  dealings  with 
man  and  men.  It  is  a  **book  of  models  as  well  as 
maxims,"  and  Christ's  ministry  was  a  ministry  of 
works  rather  than  of  words.  Though  **  he  spake 
as  never  man  spake,"  he  wrought  more  than  he 
talked.  Indeed,  his  method  was  first  to  act  a  truth, 
and  then  proclaim  it;  to  do  it,  and  then  declare  it. 
And  this  accords  perfectly  with  man's  mental  and 


THE   QUESTION  STATED.  9 

spiritual  capacity ;  for  truth  is  best  apprehended,  not 
by  studying  precepts  and  proverbs,  but  by  observ- 
ing its  influence  upon  human  life  and  conduct. 
The  moral  law  itself  is  best  understood,  not  by 
reading  its  **shalts"  and  **shalt  nots,"  but  by 
**  witnessing  the  course  of  Providence  in  the  actu- 
al career  of  good  and  evil  men." 

But  while  the  task  of  ascertaining  the  philosophy 
of  history  seems  not  to  be  difficult,  as  a  matter  of 
fact  it  is  by  no  means  easy.  Two  persons  may 
look  at  the  same  facts  and  learn  therefrom  very 
different,  if  not  antagonistic,  lessons.  A  distin- 
guished writer  has  said:  **  History  is  no  sphinx. 
She  tells  us  what  kind  of  teaching  has  been  fruit- 
ful in  blessing  to  humanity,  and  why,  and  what 
has  been  a  mere  boastful  promise  or  powerless 
formula."  That  depends  largely,  though  not  en- 
tirely, upon  who  consults  the  oracles,  and_/brwhat 
he  is  listening.  Edward  Gibbon,  for  instance,  of 
whom  it  has  been  said,  '*  no  man  ever  clothed  a 
sneer  in  language  so  stately,  or  mocked  in  periods 
so  majestic,"  in  writing  his  great  history  evidently 
made  a  studied  effort  to  avoid  any  recognition  of 
Christianity,  and  only  acknowledged  its  benign  in- 
fluences when  compelled  to  do  so  by  facts  that  even 
the  blind  could  not  fail  to  see.  So,  then,  in  order 
rightly  to  interpret  the  true  philosophy  of  events, 


TO  MODERN  MISSIONS. 

we  must  not  only  take  into  account  the  fact  that 
*'  history  has  \X.s  foreground  and  its  background, ^^ 
but  our  own  personal  and  spiritual  attitude  thereto. 
As  we  are  we  see.  Only  a  spiritual  eye  can  dis- 
cern spiritual  verities.  The  one  essential  prepara- 
tion for  a  correct  understanding  of  religious  histo- 
ry is  thus  stated  in  a  few  wise  words  by  a  great 
thinker:  "Nothing  but  deep  initiation  into  the 
spirit  of  the  Bible  can  enable  us  to  form  the  faint- 
est idea  as  to  what  historical  events  belong  most  to 
the  divine  plan,  or  have  most  relation  to  the  king- 
dom of  the  eternities." 

Now  these  preliminary  suggestions  are  offered, 
not  as  a  plea  in  abatement  or  to  escape  the  full 
force  of  the  fiercest  criticism,  but  as  a  guide  in  our 
further  investigations.  Christianity  has  asserted 
claims  and  made  a  history,  and  by  that  history 
must  stand  or  fall.  Of  course  it  should  only  be 
held  responsible  for  its  legitimate  fruits.  Its 
Founder  bore  the  sins  of  the  world,  but  should 
not  be  charged  with  all  the  failures  and  follies  of 
the  world.  But  Christianity  has  set  up  claims 
which  are  audacious  if  not  true,  and  encouraged 
hopes  that  are  cruel  and  criminal  if  beyond  possi- 
ble realization.  If  Christianity  is  only  an  ad  in- 
terim stage  in  human  development,  without  ele- 
ments of  permanency  or  promise  of  universality; 


THE   QUESTION   STATED.  II 

if  it  is  only  one  of  many  religions;  if  it  is  simply 
suited  to  the  genius  of  a  particular  people,  espe- 
cially the  Western  mind  at  a  certain  stage  of  civi- 
lization; if  it  is  not  necessary  to  every  child  of 
Adam — then  its  claims  are  the  sublimest  arrogance 
and  its  history  an  unparalleled  travesty.  And,  as 
Canon  Liddon  has  aptly  phrased  it,  the  **  mission- 
ary enterprise  is  at  once  wasteful  and  impertinent." 
It  is  recklessly  wasteful  of  home  resources  and  an 
impertinent  interference  with  other  beneficent  re- 
ligions and  civilizations.  If  it  is  not  the  answer, 
and  the  only  '*  answer  to  every  religious  aspiration 
and  need  of  man  and  men,"  if  it  is  not  the  only 
''power  of  God  unto  salvation,"  then  St.  Paul's 
sense  of  indebtedness  to  Greek  and  barbarian  was 
a  burdensome  delusion,  and  his  wearisome  mis- 
sionary labors  were  nothing  less  than  prodigious 
folly. 

The  claims  of  Christianity  are  absolute  and  uni- 
versal. Its  certain  conquest  of  the  world  is  af- 
firmed as  positively  as  the  very  existence  of  God, 
on  whom  it  is  conditioned.  '*As  truly  as  I  live,  all 
the  earth  shall  be  filled  with  the  glory  of  the  Lord." 
And  Daniel  declared  that  ''his  dominion  is  an  ev- 
erlasting dominion,  and  his  kingdom  that  which 
shall  not  be  destroyed."  St.  Paul  affirmed  "  that 
in  the  dispensation  of  the  fullness  of  times  he  might 


12  MODERN  MISSIONS. 

gather  together  in  one  all  things  in  Christ,  both 
which  are  in  heaven,  and  which  are  on  earth." 
The  apostle  sublimely  contemplated  a  vast,  united 
kingdom,  consisting  of  the  unf alien  in  heaven  and 
the  restored  on  earth,  all  under  the  common  lord- 
ship of  Jesus  Christ.  Now,  in  enunciating  the 
principles  of  that  **  kingdom  of  God,"  and  in  en- 
forcing the  divine  obligation  to  hasten  its  coming, 
two  dreadful  alternatives  are  distinctly  declared: 
(i)  The  Church  will  be  condemned  for  neglect  of 
the  heathen;  (2)  the  heathen  will  be  doomed  to 
perpetual  degradation  because  of  that  neglect. 
Every  honest  student  of  religion  has  a  right,  there- 
fore, to  ask :  <'  What  are  the  results  of  the  efforts  al- 
ready made?  At  the  close  of  this  last  and  most 
active  century  of  vast  expenditure  of  time,  treas- 
ure, and  human  life,  what  are  the  returns?  And 
what  do  the  facts  attest  ?  "  If  true  to  the  principles 
announced  and  claimed  to  be  of  divine  authority, 
if  in  any  sense  they  are  a  fulfillment  of  promises 
made,  promises  said  to  be  of  God  and  character- 
ized as  **  exceeding  great  and  precious,"  Missions 
ought  to  be  the  *' actual  and  historical  expression 
of  the  precepts  of  the  gospel."  The  facts  must 
indicate  the  factors.  I  accept  the  statement  that 
*'the  word  of  God  and  the  work  of  God  must 
agree,  and  we  must  know  the  former  in  order  to 


THE   QUESTION   STATED.  1 3 

interpret  the  latter;  "  but  this  also  we  have  a  right 
to  demand — that  the  latter  must  be  a  clear  expres- 
sion and  faithful  fulfillment  of  the  former. 

The  appeal  for  continued  and  increased  support 
of  an  enterprise  must  be  reenforced  by  its  hope  of 
advancement.  A  faihng  cause  cannot  command 
enthusiastic  support;  a  traihng  flag  never  stirs  the 
heart  of  hope.  I  do  not  mean  that  mere  numbers 
measure  progress,  that  statistics  alone  gauge  suc- 
cess, that  truth  depends  upon  majorities.  Max 
Miiller  made  a  reply  to  Canon  Taylor  (who  was 
at  once  frightened  by  his  own  figures  and  strangely 
enamored  with  Islamism)  that  was  as  apt  as  it  was 
philosophical:  '*  If  I  gain  ten,  I  am  right;  if  some- 
body else  gains  twelve,  then  I  am  wrong."  Thus 
he  exposed  the  absurdity  of  the  mere  mathematics 
of  religion. 

But  there  is  inspiration  in  success.  Once  the 
Church  depended  solely  for  encouragement  on  the 
positive  command  of  God  to  ''Go,"  and  the  promise 
of  the  Holy  Spirit's  constant  presence  and  guidance. 
Now,  in  addition,  we  have  an  unabridged  volume 
of  testimony  to  the  gospel's  redeeming  power  in 
the  history  of  Missions,  every  glorious  page  of 
which  gleams  with  light  and  thrills  with  fervor  and 
spiritual  energy. 

It  will  be  the  purpose  of  these  lectures,  there- 


14  MODERN  MISSIONS. 

fore,  in  a  survey  of  this  century  of  modern  Mis- 
sions, to  consider: 

1.  What  changes  have  been  wrought? 

2.  Have  the  changes  been  beneficent? 

3.  Are  they  so  directly  traceable  to  Christian 
and  missionary  influences  as  to  justify  the  chal- 
lenge to  the  world  to  see  ''What  hath  God 
wrought  ? ' ' 

4.  What  emphasis  is  given  to  Christian  evidences 
thereby,  and  what  new  lessons  in  Christian  life 
and  doctrine  do  they  teach? 

Great  changes  have  certainly  been  wrought. 
Mighty  forces  of  some  sort  have  been  at  work. 
The  map  of  the  world  has  shifted  its  shadings  and 
colorings  every  few  years  during  the  past  most 
eventful  century.  Society  in  some  countries  has 
been  revolutionized  from  top  to  bottom.  The 
principles  of  government  have  been  radically  mod- 
ified. Autocracies  have  given  way  to  constitu- 
tions, monarchs  have  bowed  to  parliaments,  and 
barbarous  tribes  have  accepted  the  protectorate  of 
Christian  nations ;  and  even  in  Christian  countries, 
as  the  author  of  ''Ecce  Homo!  "  observes,  ''the 
present  century  has  witnessed  a  remarkable  soften- 
ing of  manners."  Legal  tortures  for  convicted 
crime  have  been  abolished,  civil  severities  have 
been  swept  away,  and  in  private  life  "men  have 


THE   QUESTION   STATED.  I5 

greatly  advanced  in  tenderness,  sympathy,  and  un- 
willingness to  inflict  pain." 

Isolation  has  yielded  to  a  world-wide  spirit  of 
neighborhood,  and  the  most  frigid  exclusiveness 
has  been  compelled  to  surrender  to  the  warmth  of 
an  international  hospitality.  Long-locked  ports 
have  been  opened,  and  are  now  eagerly  bidding 
for  the  commerce  of  the  world.  Except  in  a  few 
countries,  notably  in  Turkey,  there  is  tolerance  of 
religious  opinion.  Though  persecution  has  not 
entirely  ceased,  there  is  less  and  less  danger  to 
life  and  liberty  in  professing  and  propagating  any 
form  of  religion.  Japan,  an  empire  of  forty  mil- 
lions of  people,  once  the  most  exclusive  of  hermit 
nations,  and  which  less  than  fifty  years  ago  pro- 
hibited the  introduction  of  Christianity  on  penalty 
of  death,  is  now  as  tolerant  in  opinion  and  as  open 
to  the  gospel  as  the  most  Christian  nation.  And 
her  broad,  progressive  purpose  for  the  future,  by 
imperial  edict,  was  announced  several  years  ago  in 
these  words:  **  It  is  intended  that  henceforth  edu- 
cation shall  be  so  diffused  that  there  may  not  be  a 
village  with  an  ignorant  family,  nor  a  family  with 
an  ignorant  member."  Railways  have  made  a 
network  of  the  whole  empire,  telegraph  lines 
stretch  from  one  end  of  the  land  to  the  other, 
daily  newspapers  abound,  banks  and  hospitals  have 


l6  MODERN   MISSIONS. 

been  established,  and  they  have  a  mail  service 
equal  to  the  post  office  department  of  the  United 
States.  Corea,  though  the  last  to  emerge  from 
her  hermitage,  has  given  the  hand  of  welcome 
to  other  nations,  and  opened  her  doors  to  the 
ambassadors  of  Christ.  Siam  gives  ample  gov- 
ernmental protection,  and  even  royal  w^elcome, 
to  missionaries.  Africa,  until  a  few  years  ago  the 
great  unknown  and  unexplored,  to-day  is  the  ral- 
lying ground  of  all  the  great  Christian  nations 
eagerly  prosecuting  their  political,  commercial, 
and  missionary  enterprises.  China  has  seen  her 
great  wall  broken,  and  the  breach  can  never  be 
healed.  A  recent  imperial  edict  declared  that 
*'the  several  nations  are  at  liberty  to  promulgate 
their  religions  in  China  as  set  forth  in  the  treaties, 
and  imperial  decrees  have  been  granted  instruct- 
ing the  various  provinces  to  give  protection  at  all 
times.  The  religion  of  the  Western  countries  sim- 
ply admonishes  people  to  become  virtuous,  and 
the  native  converts  are  Christian  subjects  under 
the  jurisdiction  of  local  officials.  The  7'eligions 
and  -peofles  ought  to  exist  -peaceably  side  by  sideJ*] 
And  equally  as  momentous  is  the  news  just  re- 
ceived, that  among  the  matriculates  in  the  Meth- 
odist University  at  Peking  for  the  present  term  are 
a  grandson  of  the  private  tutor  of  the  last  emperor 


THE    QUESTION   STATED.  1 7 

of  China,  a  nephew  of  the  private  tutor  of  the 
present  emperor,  a  son  of  the  imperial  commis- 
sioner of  Chinese  railways,  and  fourteen  of  the 
proud  literati  of  the  kingdom. 

India  has  passed  entifely  under  Christian  influ- 
ence, with  over  two  millions  of  Christian  adher- 
ents, and  more  communicants  than  the  apostles 
and  early  disciples  gathered  in  the  whole  world 
during  the  first  century  of  the  Christian  era. 

Many  of  the  cannibal  islands  of  the  South  Seas 
have  ceased  to  celebrate  their  horrid  feasts,  have 
burned  their  idols,  and  are  now  reverently  bowing 
to  the  scepter  of  the  Son  of  God.  In  Fiji,  where  a 
hundred  years  ago  there  was  not  a  single  Chris- 
tian, there  is  to-day  not  a  single  heathen,  and  in  a 
population  of  one  hundred  and  twenty  thousand 
not  a  single  home  in  which  there  is  not  morning 
and  evening  worship.  And  countries  like  Mexico 
and  Brazil,  for  centuries  dominated  by  a  corrupt 
form  of  Christianity,  scarcely  elevated  in  its  ethical 
results  above  the  false  faiths  of  the  East,  have  been 
thrown  wide  open  to  a  purer  and  larger  life. 

And  there  has  also  been  a  momentous  change  in 
the  Church'' s  attitude  to,  and  estimate  of,  the  cause 
of  Missions.  We  are  a  full  millennium  from  the 
age  and  sneer  of  Sydney  Smith,  though  the  alma- 
nac records  only  one  hundred  years.    No  Christian 


l8  MODERN   MISSIONS. 

minister  would  now  be  tolerated  with  such  a  narrow 
and  intolerant  spirit — one  who  would  dare  ridicule 
a  cause  '*  in  which  the  Spirit  of  God  mingles,  and 
which  the  providence  of  God  molds."  He  anath- 
ematized William  Carey  and  his  associates  as  **  di- 
dactic artisans,  whose  proper  talk  is  of  bullocks 
and  not  of  the  gospel;  delirious  mechanics;  the 
lowest  of  the  people;  detachments  of  lunatics." 
And  that  Christian  assembly  would  be  an  anach- 
ronism whose  presiding  officer  would  say  to  some 
modern  William  Carey:  **  Young  man,  sit  down! 
When  God  pleases  to  convert  the  heathen,  he  will 
convert  them  without  your  aid  or  mine."  No 
Scottish  General  Assembly  could  now  be  gathered 
that  would  pronounce  the  missionary  idea  **  highly 
preposterous,"  or  have  the  temerity  to  praise  '*  the 
happy  ignorance  of  the  untutored  savage."  No 
bishop  of  the  Church  of  England  would  now  so 
minimize  the  mission  of  the  gospel  or  discount  the 
apostolic  history  of  the  Church  Missionary  So- 
ciety as  to  publicly  and  privately  argue  against  the 
idea  of  the  missionary  enterprise.  The  days  of 
such  ignorance  the  Church  would  not  now  wink 
at. 

Every  Church  is  awake  and  at  work.  Organi- 
zations have  multiplied  until  about  five  hundred 
and  sixty-one  societies  are  actively  engaged  in  ad- 


THE   QUESTION  STATED.  1 9 

vancing  the  enterprise  of  Foreign  Missions.  The 
offerings  to  this  sacred  cause  have  increased  from 
the  £13  2s.  6d.  of  the  humble  Kettering  Baptists 
to  a  yearly  contribution  of  $15,000,000.  There 
are  three  societies  in  America  that  expend  annu- 
ally over  $1,000,000  each  in  sending  the  gospel  to 
the  regions  beyond.  Medical  missions  are  carry- 
ing healing  in  their  hands,  and  thereby  opening 
highways  into  the  hearts  of  nations  and  millions 
for  the  triumphal  incoming  of  the  Son  of  God. 
And  simultaneous  with  this  work  came  the  new 
apostolate  of  woman.  To  her  heathen  sisters  she 
is  carrying  the  tender  words  of  the  Christ,  who 
alone  in  all  this  world  has  made  woman  conscious 
of  her  womanhood.  Seventy-two  societies  have 
already  been  organized,  and  their  lines  have  gone 
out  into  all  the  earth. 

And  what  a  change  in  the  world's  attitude  toward 
missionaries  I  The  men  once  derided  as  '*  detach- 
ments of  lunatics,"  are  now  uppermost  in  public 
esteem.  David  Livingstone,  once  ridiculed  as  a 
fanatic,  was  given  a  State  funeral  and  sepulture  in 
Westminster  Abbey.  The  East  India  Company 
formally  expressed  its  estimate  of  Christian  Mis- 
sions in  these  rather  sarcastic  words:  *'  The  send- 
ing of  Christian  missionaries  into  our  Eastern  pos- 
sessions is  the  maddest,  most  expensive,  most  un- 


20  MODERN   MISSIONS. 

warranted  project  that  was  ever  proposed  by  a  lu- 
natic enthusiast."  It  violently  opposed  the  com- 
ing of  William  Carey  and  his  colaborers,  and  they 
were  compelled  to  seek  shelter  under  a  Danish 
flag.  But  what  a  change  was  wrought!  When 
Carey  had  finished  his  course — had  accomplished 
his  marvelous  work  and  peacefully  fallen  asleep — 
that  same  East  India  Company  lowered  its  flags  to 
half-mast  on  the  day  of  his  funeral,  and  honored 
the  **  consecrated  cobbler  "  as  though  he  had  been 
a  viceroy  or  a  general  of  armies. 

Dean  Farrar,  in  referring  to  the  sneer  of  Sydney 
^Smith  against  William  Carey  and  the  small  contri- 
bution of  £13  2s.  6d.  by  the  Baptists  of  Kettering 
to  project  a  mission  in  India,  uttered  these  gen- 
erous and  eloquent  words:  *'  Nevertheless,  at  this 
moment  every  one  who  knows  anything  of  India 
knows  that  we  owe  more  to  that  consecrated  cob- 
bler, and  to  his  pitiful  and  beggarly  £13  2s.  6d., 
than  we  owe  to  the  genius  of  Warren  Hastings,  or 
the  fiery  battle  brunt  of  Lord  Clive.'* 

And  the  London  Times,  once  scornfully  antag- 
onistic and  abusive,  now  comes  to  the  defense  of 
missionaries,  vigorously  rebukes  those  who  scoff 
at  their  reports  as  the  visions  of  harmless  enthu- 
siasts, and  pays  this  tribute  to  Drs.  Moffatt  and 
Livingstone : 


THE   QUESTION    STATED.  21 

Moffatt,  it  may  be  said,  has  labored,  and  other  men  have  en- 
tered into  his  labor.  Livingstone  has  come  after  him,  and  has 
gone  beyond  him  and  has  linked  his  memory  forever  with  the 
records  of  the  South  African  Church.  The  progress  of  South 
Africa  has  been  mainly  due  to  men  of  Moffatt's  stamp.  In 
him,  as  in  David  Livingstone,  it  is  hard  to  say  which  character 
has  predominated,  that  of  the  missionary  proper  or  that  of  the 
teacher  and  guide.  Certain  it  is  that,  apart  from  the  special 
stimulus  they  felt  as  proclaimers  of  the  gospel  message,  they 
would  never  have  thrown  themselves  as  they  did  into  the  work 
in  which  their  lives  were  consecrated.  It  was  by  no  zeal  for 
the  spread  of  civilization  on  its  own  account  that  they  passed 
many  years  laboring  and  teaching  among  savage  tribes,  amid 
dangers  of  every  kind,  amid  privations  of  which  they  them- 
selves made  light,  but  which  only  a  sense  of  their  high  spir- 
itual mission  could  have  prompted  them  to  face  and  undergo. 

And  I  quote  again  from  that  great  organ  of 
public  opinion  in  its  tribute  to  missionaries  in  Chi- 
na, and  its  high  estimate  of  th'eir  mighty  labors. 
It  says : 

The  only  real  interpreter  of  thought  and  progress  of  the 
West  to  the  millions  of  China  is  the  missionary;  and  when  we 
remember  that  European  knowledge  of  China  is  derived  almost 
wholly  from  the  works  of  missionaries,  we  may  fairly  say  that 
these  men  stand  as  interpreters  between  the  East  and  the  West 
As  to  the  charity,  we  can  only  answer  that  China  had  no  effi- 
cient hospitals  or  medical  attendance  until  the  missionaries 
established  them,  and  in  truth  she  has  no  other  now;  and  when 
her  great  men,  such  as  Li  Hung  Chang  and  Prince  Chun,  are 
in  serious  danger  they  have  to  go  to  the  despised  missionary 
doctor  for  that  efficient  aid  which  no  Chinaman  can  give  them. 


22  MODERN  MISSIONS. 

But  even  more  remarkable  is  the  following  par- 
agraph from  the  learned  pages  of  a  recent  issue 
of  the  London  Quarterly  Review: 

Men  of  mark  for  scholarship,  in  larger  numbers  than  ever, 
devote  their  talents  to  the  labor  or  the  literature  of  the  mission 
field  and  add  to  its  prestige.  The  sons  of  English  bishops  no 
longer  inonopolize  the  richest  livings  at  home,  but  give  them- 
selves to  this  most  trying  form  of  Church  work  abroad;  and 
the  sees  of  Litchfield  and  Exeter  and  Hereford,  and  even  the 
princely  throne  of  Durham,  are  adding  to  their  dignity  by  send- 
ing from  episcopal  palace  and  castle  those  vi^ho  might  justly 
expect  high  honor  and  advancement  here  in  England.  An 
archbishop's  daughter  maintained  for  years  single-handed  the 
work  of  edvicating  Arab  boys  in  Egypt,  and  daughters  of  lay 
peers  superintend  and  cheer  by  their  presence  the  zenana 
workers  in  India.  Cambridge  dispatched  the  most  learned  of 
its  Arabic  professors  to  try  and  win  the  Mohammedans  of 
Aden,  and  the  foremost  of  its  cricketers  to  no  less  arduous 
work  in  China. 

But  while  remarkable  changes  of  sentiment  at 
home  and  abroad  have  been  wrought,  and  recog- 
nition, often  reluctant,  has  been  accorded,  oppo- 
siton  has  not  ceased.  The  point  of  attack  has 
only  been  shifted. 

The  assertion  is  boldly  made  that  Missions  are  a 
failure,  and  the  reason  given  therefor  is  that  Chris- 
tianity is  not  adapted  to  Oriental  peoples;  that 
while  it  may  suit  the  Western  mind,  it  can  never 
be  permanently  planted  in  the  East;  that  it  is  as 


THE   QUESTION   STATED.  23 

impossible  as  to  try  "to  graft  the  tropic  palm  upon 
the  Northern  pine."  To  this  defiant  declaration 
the  friends  of  Christianity  reply  that  Missions  have 
not  only  been  a  success,  but  they  have  been  a  tri- 
umph. They  even  go  so  far  as,  in  the  language 
of  the  Bishop  of  Ripon,  to  say  that  **  the  story  of 
modern  Missions  is  a  continuation  of  the  Acts  of  the 
Apostles,  with  all  its  essential  supernaturalism ; " 
that  ** prophecy  links  hands  with  Providence"  to 
produce  stupendous  results  in  which  the  living 
Spirit  has  been  found  as  well  as  promised.  And 
to  the  assertion  that  Christianity  is  not  suited  to  all 
people  they  reply  that  Christ  is  "the  cotempora- 
ryof  all  ages,"  the  omnipresent  Factor  of  history, 
the  omnipotent  Force  of  the  centuries,  the  guiding 
Spirit  of  the  race ;  that  Christianity  is  indigenous 
to  every  soil,  and  is  at  home  everywhere ;  that  its 
every  domicile  is  a  temple — a  temple  of  the  Holy 
Ghost — and  the  heart  of  its  every  true  disciple  is 
at  once  an  altar  and  a  throne. 

Some  tourists  and  residents  of  the  merchant  and 
official  classes  have  failed  to  discover  the  results  of 
evangelical  effort  as  reported  by  the  missionaries 
in  such  glowing  terms.  Not  only  so,  but  they  have 
positively  denied  the  truth  of  their  statements,  and 
pronounced  their  labors  not  only  fruitless  of  good, 
but  harmful  and  irritating.     And  some  prominent 


24  MODERN   MISSIONS. 

natives  also — the  priestly  champions  of  antagonis- 
tic and  evidently  decaying  faiths — have  been  equal- 
ly positive  in  pronouncing  modern  Missions  a 
failure,  and  have  analyzed  the  reasons  therefor. 
A  German  tourist  and  author,  Max  Biichner,  says 
that  he  always  begins  by  dividing  the  assertions  of 
missionaries  by  ten.  And  that  same  gentleman,  to 
the  no  small  amusement  of  those  at  all  informed, 
also  said:  **  Mission  stations,  since  the  last  war 
in  New  Zealand,  seem  scarcely  to  exist  any  more 
as  in  former  times."  A  naturalist,  writing  of  the 
Ostiasks,  expressed  the  wish  *Hhat  they  might  long 
remain  heathen,  lest  their  good  qualities  should  be 
lost."  So  able  an  organ  of  public  opinion  as  the 
Philadelj>hia  Reco7'd  has  been  betrayed  into  so 
monstrous  a  declaration  as  this:  *'It  has  been  es- 
timated by  well  informed  authorities  that  it  takes 
an  average  of  over  two  million  dollars  to  convert 
one  Chinaman ;  and  the  worst  of  it  is  that,  for  ev- 
ery Chinaman  converted  to  Christianity,  at  least 
a  thousand  Christians  have  been  converted  into 
corpses." 

Such  statements  should  not  be  summarily  set 
aside  or  impatiently  resented  because  they  disap- 
point our  wishes  and  humiliate  our  ardent  faith. 
If  the  Christian  religion  has  demonstrated  its  in- 
adequacy to  meet  the  wants  of  any  people;  if  it 


THE    QUESTION    STATED.  25 

fails  to  sustain  its  high  claims  to  be  the  light 
and  life  of  every  land  it  touches,  to  force  it 
upon  such  countries  and  peoples  is  little  less  than 
a  crime. 

But  these  declarations,  however  positively  made, 
do  not  necessarily  impeach  the  testimony  of  mis- 
sionaries. First  of  all,  we  must  study  the  compe- 
tency of  witnesses.  And  several  things  are  to  be 
considered: 

I.  The  personal  attitude  of  the  witness  to  the 
question.  His  supposed  individual  interest  may 
prompt  an  adverse  judgment.  The  doctrines 
preached,  if  they  become  dominant,  might  injure 
his  immoral  business.  And  for  illustrations  of  that 
fact  we  have  only  to  read  the  missionary  history 
of  Dr.  John  G.  Paton,  the  apostle  of  the  South 
Seas.  Or  he  may  be  personally  hostile  because 
the  missionary's  presence  and  preaching  are  a  re- 
buke to  his  manner  of  life.  So  his  personal  en- 
mity may  color  his  testimony.  It  has  been  aptly 
said  that  there  is  a  peculiarity  about  eyes :  they  see 
only  what  the  heart  desires.  Ordinary  tourists  and 
irreligious  resident  tradesmen  and  officials  may, 
therefore,  be  incompetent  witnesses.  They  do  not, 
because  they  cannot,  see  a  kingdom  that  cometh  not 
with  observation.  And  the  presence  of  this  God- 
less class  constitutes  one  of  the  gravest  and  most 


26  MODERN   MISSIONS. 

difficult  problems  of  the  mission  fields.  There  is 
sad  significance  in  the  remark  of  an  observant 
Hindoo:  '*  If  all  Englishmen  lived  such  lives  as 
Donald  McLeod,  India  would  soon  be  a  Christian 
country." 

This  amusing  story,  found  in  the  **  Recollections 
of  an  Indian  Missionary,"  seems  to  throw  light  on 
the  trustworthiness  of  certain  witnesses.  Some 
thirty-five  years  ago  a  regiment  from  Benares 
passed  through  Cawnpore.  The  officers  of  that 
garrison  gave  their  comrades  a  dinner,  to  which 
ladies  were  also  invited.  In  the  course  of  it  a  lady 
asked  a  captain  of  the  regiment  what  the  missiona- 
ries were  doing  in  Benares.  The  captain  assured 
her  that  there  were  no  missionaries  there. 

'*  But  they  have  an  Orphan  House  there,"  replied 
the  lady. 

'*  Pardon  me;  there  exists  no  institution  of  that 
kind,"  said  the  captain. 

**  But  I  pay  a  subscription  to  it  annually." 

**I  believe  that;  but  I  was  three  years  in  Be 
nares,  and  must  have  seen  the  institution  if  it  ex- 
isted." 

Then  the  gentleman  who  sat  at  the  lady's  right- 
hand  said  quietly  to  her,  **Wait  a  little;"  and 
then  he  asked  the  captain,  ''Did  you  use  to  go  to 
church,  sir?" 


THE   QUESTION   STATED.  27 

'*Yes,  we  are  commanded  to  attend." 

<«But  who  preached  in  Benares,  for  there  is  no 
government  chaplain  there?" 

**  True,  we  had  no  padres;  but  the  service  was 
conducted  by  clergymen  who  were  much  beloved 
by  our  men." 

''  Strange,  captain ;  you  attended  services  which 
were  conducted  by  missionaries,  and  you  know 
nothing  of  the  existence  of  these  gentlemen." 

*'  W-h-a-t!     Were  they  missionaries?  " 

'*  Now,  another  question,  sir.  *  Did  you  ever 
see  the  long  building  in  the  street  which  leads  by 
Sigra  to  Marawaddi?  '  " 

''  Certainly.  It  happened  once  that  a  fox  was 
lost  there,  and  I  rode  into  the  comfowid.  There 
was  a  heap  of  little  black  rascals  who  grinned  at 
me.  They  knew  where  the  fox  was,  but  would 
not  tell  me." 

««  Then  you  were  in  the  precincts  of  the  Orphan 
House  of  which  the  lady  beside  you  spoke." 

"  Indeed !  I  did  not  know  what  it  was.  I  took 
it  for  an  indigo  factory,  or  something  of  that  sort." 

And  yet  such  witnesses  testify  with  perfect  as- 
surance against  missionary  work,  not  only  in  India, 
but  in  all  the  fields  of  the  world. 

2.  We  must  consider  the  capacity  of  the  witness 
to   apprehend  that  about  which  he   speaks.     An 


28  MODERN  MISSIONS. 

untutored  savage  could  not  be  expected  to  give  an 
intelligent  opinion  about  the  system  of  Copernicus 
in  astronomy,  or  the  Baconian  method  in  philoso- 
phy, or  the  value  of  jetties  in  hydraulics. 

In  the  realm  of  the  spiritual  this  fact  is  fun- 
damental. The  natural  man  perceiveth  not  the 
things  of  the  spirit.  An  open,  sympathetic 
mind  is  necessary  in  order  to  apprehend  certain 
truths.  There  must  be  not  only  breadth  and 
strength  of  mental  grasp,  but  oneness  of  spirit, 
likeness  of  soul,  sympathy  of  heart.  The  attitude 
of  the  heart  is  as  important  as  the  posture  of  the 
mind. 

We  may  be  in  immediate  presence  of  great  ver- 
ities and  not  know  it.  There  is  pathos  in  the 
Lord's  reply  to  Philip :  "  Have  I  been  so  long  time 
with  you,  and  dost  thou  not  know  me,  Philip?" 
There  is  an  undertone  of  disappointment  and  sad- 
ness in  the  words.  Our  sight  is  determined  by  our 
spiritual  insight. 

But  that  sublime  truths  are  discredited  or  denied 
is  not  necessarily  an  argument  against  their  exist- 
ence. We  are  told  that  if  our  ear  nerves  were  suf- 
ficiently delicate,  the  most  rapturous  music  could 
be  caught  from  the  rising  and  falling  of  the  sap  in 
the  trees  of  the  forest.  This  is  described  in  an 
oft-quoted  passage  from  Mr.  Huxley:   ''  The  won- 


THE    QUESTION  STATED.  29 

derful  silence  of  a  tropical  forest  is  often  due  only 
to  the  dullness  of  our  hearing ;  and  could  our  ears 
catch  the  murmurs  of  these  tiny  maelstroms  as  they 
whirl  in  the  innumerable  myriads  of  living  cells 
which  constitute  each  tree,  we  should  be  stunned 
as  with  the  roar  of  a  great  city." 

The  Bampton  Lectures  for  1894,  on  '*  Person- 
ality, Human  and  Divine,"  discuss  with  conspicu- 
ous ability  and  satisfaction  the  proposition  that 
moral  affinity  is  needful  for  the  knowledge  of  a 
person.  Our  own  natures  must  be  in  sympathy 
with  one  if  we  would  really  know  him.  Affinity  is 
the  condition  of  self-revelation  on  the  one  hand 
and  of  right  understanding  on  the  other.  **He 
must  become  Godlike,"  says  Plotinus,  "  who  de- 
sires to  see  God." 

So  the  Godless  cannot  interpret  the  divine.  The 
irreligious  are  incompetent  to  pass  judgment  upon 
things  spiritual.  They  cannot  apprehend  that  for 
which  they  have  been  apprehended. 

Another  class  that  criticise  Missions  and  are  al- 
most desperately  demanding  to  be  heard  are  na- 
tive heathen,  especially  of  the  friestly  order.  Some 
educated  Indian  gentlemen  (notably  Mr.  Telang, 
Mr.  Gandhi,  and  Mr.  Vivikananda)  have  recently 
pronounced  severe  judgment  against  mission  work, 
and  attempted  to  account  for  its  humiliating  fail- 


30  MODERN  MISSIONS. 

ure.  But  these igentlemen,  though  natives  and  life- 
long residents,  are  not  necessarily  informed  in 
such  matters.  Incjeed,  it  is  a  remarkable  fact  that 
such  persons  are  goperally  the  most  incompetent 
witnesses.  They  are  hostile  to  the  cause  about 
which  they  testify,  and  of  necessity  get  their  infor- 
mation second-hand. 

And  these  native  residents  and  disciples  of  an 
antagonistic  faith  differ  among  themselves.  Mr. 
Vivekananda,  who  attracted  so  much  attention  as 
the  representative  of  Hindooism  at  the  **  Congress 
of  Religions,"  ventures  to  say  of  woman  in  India 
that  *'  from  the  Hindoo  standpoint  she  receives  all 
her  rights."  Alas  for  the  *' standpoint!  "  But 
in  opposition  to  that  statement  I  give  the  testimony 
of  another  highly  educated  and  unusually  broad- 
minded  Brahman,  the  editor  of  the  Hindu ^  a 
leading  paper  in  Southern  India.  In  the  columns 
of  that  journal  he  says  : 

We  recently  approved  the  statement  of  a  Bombay  paper,  that 
the  social  eminence  which  the  Parsees  so  deservedly  enjoy  at 
the  present  moment  is  due  to  these  two  causes:  that  their 
women  are  well  educated,  and  they  are  bound  by  no  restric- 
tions of  caste.  These  two  advantages  make  themselves  felt 
among  our  native  Christian  brethren,  and  it  is  probable  that 
they  will  soon  be  the  Parsees  of  Southern  India,  They  will 
furnish  the  most  distinguished  public  servants,  barristers,  mer- 
chans,  and  citizens  among  the  various  classes  of  the  native 
community. 


THE   QUESTION   STATED.  3 1 

But  more  significant  is  the  report  of  the  Rama- 
bai  Association,  conducted  by  that  remarkable 
Christian  woman,  Pundita  Ramabai,  in  behalf  of 
the  child  widows  of  India.  It  seems  incredible 
that  there  are  twenty-three  million  widows  in  In- 
dia, of  whom  ten  thousand  one  hundred  and  sixty- 
five  are  under  four  years  of  age,  and  fifty-one 
thousand  eight  hundred  and  seventy-five  are  be- 
tween the  ages  of  five  and  nine.  Referring  to  the 
statement  that  the  life  of  a  child  widow  was  not  so 
hard  and  piteous  as  had  been  represented — that 
their  bodies  were  not  so  "  emaciated  and  disfigured 
by  cruel  blows,"  that  the  number  of  suicides  and 
lives  of  shame  was  exaggerated — the  last  report 
says:  "Let  him  who  believes  such  statements, 
though  made  by  the  Hindoos  themselves,  come  to 
the  Saharada  Sadana,  listen  to  the  pitiful  stories 
of  some  of  its  inmates,  see  the  white  mark  of  the 
hot  iron  on  the  head,  the  little  white  scars  made 
by  the  sharp  finger  nails  meeting  in  the  tender  flesh 
of  the  face — as  I  have  heard  and  seen  all  this,  and 
much  more — and  he  will  not  only  know  the  truth, 
but  he  will  feel  it  a  privilege  to  do  something  for 
these  unfortunate  children."  Thus  the  native  wit- 
nesses widely  disagree. 

And  even  Mr.  Telang,  while  expressing  a  Brah- 
man's  contempt  for  missionary  interference  and 


32  MODERN  MISSIONS. 

impertinence,  is  candid  enough  to  say  that  *'  the 
structure  of  Hindoo  society  and  religion  is  such 
that  there  is  no  such  help  for  the  Pariah  as  a  Chris- 
tian missionary  has  brought  to  him."  As  the  mis- 
sion of  Christianity  is  to  lift  up  the  lowly  and  give 
the  gospel  of  hope  to  the  poorest,  this  is  an  uncon- 
scious tribute  to  its  divine  genesis  and  genius. 

And  there  is  yet  another  class  of  critics,  who 
are  found  in  the  Church  at  home.  They  are  rep- 
resented by  Canon  Taylor  and  others,  who,  from 
what  they  regard  as  the  slow  progress  of  Missions, 
prophesy  its  failure.  This  class  may  not  be  large, 
but  never  fail  to  be  heard.  Such  pessimism  may 
result  from  an  enfeebled  faith  or  from  infirmity 
of  temper.  Macaula)^  said  that  in  his  day  he  saw 
nothing  but  progress,  yet  he  heard  only  of  decay. 
There  are  always  crises  in  the  Church  to  some 
people — their  faith  is  in  a  chronic  state  of  panic. 
To  them  every  discouragement  is  a  calamity,  and 
every  seeming  failure  an  utter  defeat.  They  carry 
two  small  banners:  one  a  danger  signal,  the  other 
a  flag  of  truce.  At  the  first  assault  of  an  enemy 
they  are  ready  to  flee  the  field  or  run  up  a  white 
flag.  At  the  first  rumble  of  thunder  they  forsake 
the  house  and  rush  for  a  storm  pit.  This  is  the  faith 
of  circumstances,  not  of  eternal  verities.  They 
trust  an  arm  of  flesh,  not  a  God  "mighty  to  save." 


THE   QUESTION  STATED.  33 

But  from  whatever  source  these  criticisms  and 
objections  emanate,  and  inspired  by  whatever  mo- 
tive, it  is  the  function  of  the  Christian  apologist  to 
give  them  judicial  and  thorough  examination.  If 
our  Christianity  fails  in  any  of  its  high  claims,  we 
are  most  concerned  to  know  it,  and  cannot  afford 
to  conceal  it.  But  if  we  discover  that  its  aims  and 
claims  are  vindicated  by  the  facts  of  history,  then 
Lord  Macaulay  uttered  a  sober  truth  when  he  said : 
*'  Whoever  does  anything  to  depreciate  Christian- 
ity is  guilty  of  high  treason  against  the  civiliza- 
tion of  mankind." 
8 


LECTURE  II. 


CHRISTIANITY  AND  OTHER  RELIGIONS. 


II. 

CHRISTIANITY  AND  OTHER  RELIGIONS. 

RELIGION  is  the  regnant  power  in  this  world. 
It  molds  the  civilization  and  determines  the 
destiny  of  nations.  No  such  power  resides  else- 
where. Not  in  philosophy,  not  in  science,  not  in 
art,  not  in  climate,  not  in  material  resources,  not 
in  organized  society — not  in  anything  else  are 
such  mighty  forces  enfolded  and  such  tremen- 
dous potentialities  enthroned.  It  marks  the  prog- 
ress of  the  race.  It  dominates  individual  life  and 
determines  personal  conduct  and  character.  Re- 
ligion is  universal  and  ineradicable.  It  is  neces- 
sary to  man,  and,  therefore,  indestructible.  So 
Prof.  Tyndall  said  truty:  *'No  atheistic  reason- 
ing can  dislodge  religion  from  the  heart  of  man. 
As  an  experience  of  the  consciousness  it  is  per- 
fectly beyond  the  assaults  of  logic." 

The  aim  of  this  lecture  is  to  study  Christianity 
in  contrast  with  the  distinguishing  characteristics 
of  other  religions.  To  this  we  are  invited,  if  not 
impelled,  by  the  high  claims  of  the  religion  of 
Christ  on  the  one  hand,  and  by  the  bold  challenge 
of  its  enemies  on  the  other.     It  is  not,  however, 


38  MODERN   MISSIONS. 

within  the  scope  of  this  discussion  to  consider  the 
origin  and  development  of  religious  beliefs,  but  to 
study  their  characteristics,  and,  if  possible,  trace 
their  tendency  and  history.  Whether,  therefore, 
ancient  religion  began,  as  Schlegel  argues,  with 
the  worship  of  the  Supreme  Being  and  in  some 
countries  lapsed  into  polytheism,  or,  as  others 
contend,  it  started  with  ghost  dreams  and  grew 
into  monotheism,  we  are  not  just  now  concerned. 
It  is  true  that  the  deism  of  Moslem  is  the  mono- 
theism of  the  Jew;  and  it  may  be,  as  is  claimed, 
that  the  rehgion  of  the  Zend-Avesta  was  borrowed 
from  Abraham,  and  from  the  same  patriarchal 
source  also  came  the  traditions  that  constructed 
Brahmanism  and  Persian  Magianism.  But  into 
the  history  of  the  genesis  of  religious  ideas  I  shall 
not  enter.  Our  more  practical  purpose  is  to  look 
at  the  chief  characteristics  of  these  great  religions, 
as  they  are  and  have  been,  and  examine  their  es- 
sential qualities  and  potential  influences,  as  exhib- 
ited in  the  civihzations  and  history  of  nations. 

Christianity  claims  to  be  the  only  true  and  uni- 
versal religion,  adapted  to  all  men  and  needed  by 
all  men.  It  is  absolute  and  exclusive.  It  recog- 
nizes no  competitors  and  tolerates  no  rivals.  Its 
attitude  to  other  religions  is  antagonistic  and  un- 
compromising.    The  avowed  purpose  and  certain 


CHRISTIANITY  AND  OTHER   RELIGIONS.  39 

effect  of  its  teachings,  as  God  assured  Jeremiah 
when  he  ordained  him  "a  prophet  unto  the  na- 
tions," are  **  to  root  out,  and  to  pull  down,  and  to 
destroy,  and  to  throw  down,  to  build,  and  to  plant." 
Its  mission  is  destructive  and  constructive.  It  first 
extirpates  and  exterminates ;  then  plants  and  builds. 
Now  to  this  high  claim  and  aggressive  purpose  the 
friends  of  other  faiths  make  defiant  denial.  They 
claim  to  have  the  truth.  They  indignantly  deny 
the  adaptability  of  Christianity  to  all  races,  and 
positively  affirm  that  Missions  are  a  failure.  A  re- 
cent writer  has  stated  that  **  Christ  is  not  suited  to 
the  Hindoos."  They  desire  a  Saviour  not  so  meek 
and  lowly.  There  is  also  a  revived  disposition  to 
applaud  the  merits  of  Mohammedanism  and  over- 
estimate its  civilizing  power.  Canon  Taylor  and 
others  have  boldly  asserted  its  peculiar  adaptation 
to  the  Eastern  mind,  and  the  superiority  of  its 
claims.  And  yet  others  consider  it  a  good  prepa- 
ration for  the  higher  Christian  faith.  But  on  the 
other  hand,  so  high  an  authority  as  Sir  William 
Muir  gives  this  positive  judgment:  *'  They  labor 
under  a  miserable  delusion  who  suppose  that  Mo- 
hammedanism paves  the  way  for  a  purer  faith. 
No  system  could  have  been  devised  with  more 
consummate  skill  for  shutting  out  from  the  light 
and  truth  the  nations  over  which  it  has  sway.    The 


40  MODERN  MISSIONS. 

sword  of  Mohammed  and  the  Koran  are  the  most 
fatal  enemies  of  civiHzation,  liberty,  and  truth 
that  the  world  has  yet  known." 

The  doctrines,  spirit,  ethical  systems,  products, 
and  historic  effects  of  these  religions  will  be  brief- 
ly considered,  and  contrasted  with  the  teachings, 
genius,  and  achievements  of  Christianity.  By  this 
method  we  can  more  readily  ascertain  the  virtues 
and  defects  of  the  one  or  the  other,  and  discover 
in  which  are  those  permanent  and  divine  elements 
that  will  command  the  homage  of  the  human  soul 
and  guarantee  its  final  and  eternal  triumph.  I 
readily  accept  the  statement  of  Dr.  Fairbairn 
that  *'the  function  of  great  beliefs  is  not  to  find 
perfect  men,  but  to  make  them;  to  take  the  poor 
material  it  gets,  and  out  of  it  to  build  up  nobler 
characters  and  nobler  men."  The  ethical  value 
of  any  religion  is  tested  by  the  kind  of  character 
it  produces.  Christianity,  therefore,  like  every 
system  of  truth,  should  be  measured  by  its  de- 
clared purposes  and  legitimate  effects. 

It  has  been  objected,  however,  that  we  have  no 
right  to  infer  the  truth  of  a  doctrine  from  its  titil- 
ity ;  that  some  beliefs  may  have  been  morally  use- 
ful that  were  not  true.  To  that  objection  Bishop 
Westcott  makes  convincing  answer  by  showing 
that  those  beliefs  were  effective  because  not  wholly 


CHRISTIANITY  AND   OTHER   RELIGIONS.  4I 

false,  and  then  utters  these  striking  words:  **And 
the  absolute  uniqueness  of  Christianity  lies  in  this, 
that  its  capacity  for  good  is  universal  and  in  itself 
without  alloy. ^^ 

First,  let  us  contrast  Christianity  and  other  re- 
ligions in  their  conceptions  of  God.  All  religions 
are  typed  and  determined  by  their  deities.  A  peo- 
ple can  never  be  better  or  worse  than  the  gods  they 
worship.  A  distinguished  writer  on  comparative 
religions  makes  this  very  just  observation :  **A  bad 
god  can  never  have  a  good  religion.  As  is  the 
deity,  such  must  the  faith  that  is  built  on  him  be. 
Find  out  the  character  of  the  deity,  and  you  find 
out  the  character  of  the  religion."  And  on  anoth- 
er occasion  the  same  writer  said:  "  There  is  no 
surer  measure  of  a  people's  progress  than  its  suc- 
cessive conceptions  of  the  being  it  worships."  It 
shall  be  our  purpose,  then,  to  ascertain,  if  possible, 
and  from  authoritative  sources,  what  are  those 
**  conceptions  "  which  constitute  the  religions  of 
nations,  and  which  determine  their  destiny. 

We  will  look  at  Hindooism,  the  ancient  re- 
ligion of  India,  and  see  what  is  its  conception  of  a 
being  to  worship.  We  find  that  there  is  no  recog- 
nition of  a  personal  God.  It  is  pantheistic  and 
idolatrous.  There  are  lords  many  and  gods  many. 
As  many  as  three  hundred  and  thirty  million  divin- 


42  MODERN  MISSIONS. 

ities  have  been  counted.  The  imagination  has 
grown  weary  in  their  multiplication.  One  of  the 
native  writers  of  India,  an  ardent  Brahman,  the 
editor  of  the  Hindu,  said  recently  that  Hindoo- 
ism  had  never  degraded  itself  so  far  as  to  believe 
in  a  personal  God.  A  great  scholar,  and  by  no 
means  unfriendly  critic,  makes  this  statement 
concerning  the  chief  Hindoo  deity:  **  Brahm  is  a 
sort  of  divine  neuter,  a  colorless,  abstract,  super- 
personal  (and  therefore  impersonal)  being,  without 
love  or  anger,  without  sympathy  or  pity."  There 
is  also  a  sort  of  crude  trinity — Brahma,  Vishnu, 
and  Siva — Vishnu  representing  the  preserver  and 
Siva  the  destroyer.  Passions  that  would  be  base 
in  men  are  sinless  in  their  gods.  Kali,  the  wife  of 
Siva,  the  Moloch  of  India  and  a  favorite  goddess, 
is  best  propitiated  by  human  sacrifices ;  has  thugs 
to  commit  murder  in  her  name,  and  is  represented 
as  a  horrid  black  figure  with  protruding  tongue, 
dripping  blood,  and  usually  adorned  with  a  girdle 
of  dangling  hands  and  a  necklace  of  human 
skulls. 

Buddhism,  a  reformed  religion  which  sprang  up 
as  a  protest  against  Brahmanism,  is  substantially 
atheistic.  In  its  creed  there  is  no  god  to  worship. 
Prof.  Max  Miiller  says:  "  Difficult  as  it  seems  to 
us  to  conceive,  Buddha  admits  of  no  real  cause  of 


CHRISTIANITY  AND   OTHER  RELIGIONS.  43 

this  unreal  world.     He  denies  the  existence,  not 
only  of  a  creator,  but  of  any  absolute  being." 

Zoroastrianism,  said  to  be  the  best  and  purest 
of  all  pagan  creeds,  believes  in  one  god,  but  has 
no  conception  of  him  as  a  spiritual  being;  and  its 
votaries  worship  first  of  all  fire,  then  the  sun,  moon, 
stars,  water,  wind,  earth,  rivers,  trees,  etc.,  be- 
lieving them  to  be  emblems  of  the  deity.  They 
hold  that  the  eternal  created  two  gods:  Ormuzd, 
the  god  of  light,  and  Ahriman,  the  god  of  darkness. 
These  two  deities  are  in  constant  conflict,  but  in 
the  end  the  god  of  light  will  triumph. 

Mohammedism  is  monotheistic,  but  has  a  dis- 
torted conception  of  God.  It  is  thus  stated  by  Sir 
William  Muir:  "The  god  of  Islam,  sohtary,  se- 
vere, stern,  inducing  man  to  obey  by  motives  that 
debase,  depraving  woman,  hating  the  infidel,  is  a 
fit  deity  for  wild  Arabs  or  fierce  Turks,  but  no  god 
for  civilized  and  free  man."  The  Moslem  creed 
may  be  expressed  in  a  single  sentence:  "  There  is 
one  god,  and  Mohammed  is  his  prophet." 

In  this  classification  I  have  not  included  Confu- 
cianism, for  it  is  a  philosophy  rather  than  a  reli- 
gion. Now  with  these  crude  and  revolting  ideas 
of  a  Being  unto  whom  the  soul  of  man  cries,  we 
contrast  the  new  and  noble  conception  of  God 
which  Christianity  has  introduced  into  the  world : 


44  MODERN  MISSIONS. 

A  Person  who  is  one  Lord,  self-existent,  eternal, 
omnipotent,  omniscient,  the  Creator  and  Preserver 
of  all  things,  the  everlasting  and  universal  Father, 
full  of  mercy,  truth,  and  tender  compassion.  He 
is  a  God  who  exercises  tender  watch  care  over  ev- 
ery creature  of  his  hand ;  a  Lord  whose  overruling 
providence  makes  all  things  work  for  good  to  them 
that  obey  him;  a  loving  Father  who  protects  and 
provides  for  his  children,  and  hears  them  when 
they  pray ;  a  Saviour  who  provides  a  remedy  for  all 
sin;  a  Spirit  to  regenerate,  guide,  inspire,  and 
sanctify  all  that  believe  on  his  name.  What  a 
world-wide  difference  of  conception !  What  a 
transfiguration  in  contrast  with  the  pitiful  condi- 
tions and  heartless  mockeries  of  the  heathen  world  ! 
With  Dr.  Martineau  we  all  joyfully  say:  **A  faith 
that  spreads  around  and  within  the  mind  a  Deity 
thus  sublime  and  holy  finds  the  life  of  every  pure 
affection,  and  presses  with  omnipotent  power  on 
the  conscience;  and  our  only  prayer  is  that  we 
may  walk  as  children  of  such  light." 

The  heathen  have  no  conception  of  God  as  a 
Father.  The  world  sighs  for  fatherhood,  and 
nothing  less  will  satisfy  the  soul  of  man.  The 
heart  wants  not  a  code  of  laws,  not  a  system  of 
doctrine,  not  a  judge  however  just,  not  a  bountiful 
provider  and  preserver,  but  a  divine,  sympathetic 


CHRISTIANITY  AND  OTHER  RELIGIONS.  45 

Father.  Philip's  prayer,  «*  Show  us  the  Father, 
and  it  sufficeth  us,"  is  the  orphan  cry  of  humani- 
ty, the  plaintive  voice  of  the  universal  human  heart. 
Nothing  less  can  satisfy.  And  the  search  for  God 
has  been  correctly  characterized  as  the  search  for 
the  principle  of  fatherhood.  A  great  writer  has 
truly  said:  '*  Without  it  [the  doctrine  of  father- 
hood] the  religions  of  the  West  had  perished  amid 
license  and  apathy,  while  the  more  fervid  spirits  of 
the  East  took  refuge  in  the  thought  of  annihila- 
tion." 

Next  we  will  contrast  Christianity  and  other  re- 
ligions in  their  conceftions  of  man  and  their  esti- 
mates of  the  value  of  htunan  life.     This  truth  is 
•  axiomatic :   the  more  exalted  our  conception  of  the 
God  we  worship,   the  nobler  will  be  our  estimate 
of    man.       Divine    thoughts    of    God    necessitate 
high   thoughts   of    man.      The   greater  the    God 
whose  lordship  we  recognize,   and  whose  author- 
ity we  obey,  the  greater  the   man   created  in  his 
image  or  in   any  sense  the  representative  of  his 
character.     Now  in   connection  with  this  funda- 
mental   truth,    though    not    necessarily    deducible 
from  it,  I  lay  down  these  broad  propositions:    (i) 
Religions   that  do  not  beheve  in  a  personal   God 
cannot  beheve  in  the   divine  origin,  dignity,  and 
individuality  of   man.      Personality  is  instinct  in 


46  MODERN  MISSIONS. 

man  in  proportion  as  the  personality  of  God  is 
distinct.  (2)  The  doctrine  of  the  immortality  of 
man  is  conditioned  on  belief  in  the  eternity  of 
God.  (3)  Belief  in  the  unity  of  man  is  not  possi- 
ble to  those  who  believe  in  a  multitude  of  gods. 
Polytheistic  religions  deny  the  unity  of  the  human 
race,  and  its  logical  expression,  the  brotherhood 
of  man. 

These  propositions  are  sustained  and  abundantly 
illustrated  by  the  histories  of  the  great  non-Chris- 
tian religions.  Hindooism,  which  denies  a  person- 
al God,  does  not  recognize  the  existence  of  a  real 
soul,  but  only  a  temporary  emanation,  like  the 
moon's  reflection  in  water.  There  is  no  capacity 
for  fellowship,  and  the  end  is  absorption. 

From  these  low  conceptions  of  the  origin,  dig- 
nity, and  destiny  of  man  there  necessarily  follows 
a  cheap  estimate  of  the  value  of  human  life.  A 
life  that  has  no  future  can  have  no  value.  We  are 
not  surprised,  therefore,  to  find  in  all  heathen  coun- 
tries contempt  for  human  life.  "  China  would  see 
a  thousand  men  perish  with  less  concern  than  we 
would  see  a  score."  Until  the  strong  arm  of  a 
Christian  government  prohibited  it,  human  sacri- 
fices were  offered  to  their  gods  in  India  by  the 
hundreds  every  year.  Victor  Hugo  contrasted  not 
only  the   sentiment  of  different  civilizations,   but 


CHRISTIANITY  AND   OTHER  RELIGIONS.  47 

the  principles  of  antagonistic  religions,  in  this  sar- 
castic sentence:  ''  If  a  man  is  killed  in  Paris,  it  is 
murder;  the  throats  of  fifty  thousand  people  are 
cut  in  the  East,  and  it  is  a  question."  Among  the 
tribes  of  the  South  Seas  human  flesh  was  the 
cheapest  food.  James  Calvert,  the  apostle  of  Fiji, 
tells  of  one  wretched  cannibal  who  was  wont  to 
put  down  a  stone  for  every  human  body  of  which 
he  partook,  and  his  mound  of  horror  reached  the 
number  of  eight  hundred  and  seventy-two  stones. 

Now  contrast  with  these  low  ideas  that  degrade 
man,  and  make  his  existence  of  no  more  value 
than  sheep  in  the  shambles,  the  lofty  conception 
of  man's  immortality  and  eternal  personal  identity 
introduced  by  Christianity — made  in  God's  own 
image,  capable  of  not  only  apprehending,  but  of 
having  fellowship  with  the  Divine,  endowed  with 
faculties  that  make  him  a  partaker  of  the  divine 
nature,  and  possessed  of  a  personality  distinct  and 
deathless. 

Christianity  is  the  only  religion  of  rede7nftion. 
This  is  its  preeminent  characteristic.  It  is  the  ap- 
proach of  Heaven  to  man,  that  man  may  be  lifted 
up  to  heaven.  All  heathen  faiths  are  only  '*  co- 
lossal systems  of  meritorious  legaHsm."  Hindoo- 
ism  has  no  Saviour  and  no  salvation.  It  has  no 
divine  helper  in  hours  of  need,  no  mediator  be- 


48  MODERN  MISSIONS. 

tween  fallen  man  and  a  holy  God,  and  no  regen- 
erating spirit  to  create  anew  a  nature  stained  with 
sin.  Its  only  idea  of  ultimate  redemption  is  a  state 
of  *'  absolute  quiescence  or  the  negation  of  all  con- 
sciousness." And  Buddhism  recognizes  only  <*  a 
salvation  which  each  man  could  gain  for  himself, 
and  by  himself,  in  this  world,  during  this  life, 
without  the  least  reference  to  God  or  gods,  either 
great  or  small."  The  most  momentous  question 
under  Buddhism  and  Christianity  has  thus  been 
contrasted:  *'  The  Christian  inquirer  asks,  *  What 
shall  I  do  to  inherit  eternal  life?'  the  Buddhist, 
'What  shall  I  do  to  inherit  eternal  extinction?" 
Buddha  said,  *'  The  harvest  I  reap  is  Nirvana;  " 
and  Nirvana  is  annihilation.  Jainism,  a  sect  of 
Buddhism,  teaches  that  man  is  perfected  only  after 
'*  myriads  of  births  into  this  and  other  worlds," 
and  by  a  long  and  painful  process  of  penance  and 
maceration.  And  the  perfection  at  last  attained  is 
a  state  of  *'  entirely  unconscious  repose."  And 
Mohammedanism  has  no  atonement.  Salvation 
is  by  works  only.  The  works  prescribed  in 
order  to  secure  redemption  are  these  :  (i) 
Prayer^  which  is  offered  five  times  a  day,  with  the 
face  turned  toward  Mecca,  accompanied  by  cer- 
tain ablutions  and  purifications.  (2)  Fasting, 
which  Mohammed  called  **the  gate  of  religion." 


CHRISTIANITY  AND  OTHER   RELIGIONS.  49 

(3)  Almsgivings  the  importance  of  which  in  their 
system  was  thus  stated  by  a  Moslem  teacher  of 
the  early  centuries:  "Prayer  carries  us  halfway 
to  God,  fasting  brings  us  to  the  door  of  his  palace, 
and  alms  procure  us  admission."  (4)  A  pilgrim- 
age to  Mecca,  which  is  an  act  of  highest  merit. 

With  these  dreary  responses  to  the  bitter  cry  of 
burdened  humanity,  these  Dead  Sea  apples  pressed 
to  the  parched  lips  of  the  human  soul,  we  contrast 
our  Christian  religion,  with  its  blessed  and  inspir- 
ing promise  of  answered  prayer  and  pardoned  sin, 
and  a  purified  nature,  and  an  endless,  sinless,  joy- 
ous fellowship  with  the  Son  of  God.  It  promises 
the  infinite  expansion  of  every  power  of  the  soul, 
and  unending  satisfaction  to  every  stainless  im- 
pulse. The  enrapturing  assurance  is  that  each  re- 
deemed heart  "  shall  be  able  to  comprehend  with 
all  saints  what  is  the  breadth,  and  length,  and  depth, 
and  height;  and  to  know  the  love  of  Christ,  which 
passeth  knowledge,  that  he  may  be  filled  with  all 
the  fullness  of  God." 

The  two  doctrines — that  a  sinless  man  was  made 
sin,  and  that  a  dead  and  buried  man  was  made  life 
— Sir  Monier  Williams  says  makes  a  gulf  be- 
tween our  Holy  Bible  and  the  so-called  sacred 
books  of  the  East,  "  which  severs  the  one  from 
the  other  utterly,  hopelessly,  and  forever;   not  a 


50  MODERN  MISSIONS. 

mere  rift  across  which  the  Christian  and  non-Chris- 
tian may  shake  hands  and  interchange  similar  ideas 
in  regard  to  essential  truth,  but  a  veritable  gulf 
which  cannot  be  bridged  over  by  any  science  of 
religious  thought;  yes,  a  bridgeless  chasm  which 
no  theory  of  evolution  can  ever  span." 
.  Heathen  religions  have  no  high  motives  and 
lofty  ideals.  With  this  low  ethical  aim  and  these 
despairing  views  of  life  there  can  be  noble  aspira- 
tions and  inspired  longings.  There  is  nothing  to 
kindle  divine  desire,  nothing  to  exalt  hope.  When 
a  personal  God  is  denied  and  possible  fellowship 
with  him  decried,  there  is  nothing  in  a  religion  to 
satisfy  pure  desire;  so  the  desire  has  to  be  anni- 
hilated. Buddhism  is  essentially  repressive.  It 
blasts  and  sterilizes  the  soil  out  of  which  springs 
nobility  of  character.  Confucianism  teaches  men 
to  beware  of  action  and  aim  at  inaction,  indiffer- 
ence, and  apathy  as  the  highest  of  all  states. 

The  difference  between  Buddhism  and  Chris- 
tianity as  motive  powers  has  thus  been  stated: 
**  Buddha  so  hated  life  as  to  extinguish  the  very 
desire  to  mend  it;  Christ  so  loved  life  as  to  create 
in  all  who  loved  him  the  desire  for  its  ennoblement. 
The  aim  of  Budhha  was  to  make  men  know  their 
misery,  that  they  might  be  willing  to  lay  down  the 
burden   of  existence;   but  the  purpose  of   Christ 


CHRISTIANITY  AND  OTHER  RELIGIONS.  5 1 

was  to  make  men  conscious  of  sin,  that  they  might 
live  unto  holiness,  forsake  the  darkness,  and  seek 
the  light." 

The  images  of  Buddha,  some  of  them  of  colos- 
sal proportions,  represent  the  Oriental  saint  in  a 
sitting  posture  and  meditative  mood,  with  hands 
folded  and  the  palms  upturned.  The  position  of 
that  figure  of  inaction  and  meditation  is  a  fitting 
representation  of  the  great  system  of  religion  of 
which  he  was  the  highest  incarnation.  It  can  pro- 
duce nothing  nobler  than  a  type  of  character  which 
is  to  mourn  over  the  vanity  of  all  things  and  sigh 
for  Nirvana.  A  religion  with  such  a  contempt  of 
life,  and  so  entirely  destitute  of  any  spirit  of  ag- 
gression and  enterprise,  can  never  produce  great 
characters  or  work  out  high  plans  for  the  world's 
uplifting. 

Every  missionary  in  every  field  and  every  tour- 
ist who  has  an  eye  to  discern  spiritual  verities, 
agrees  with  Bishop  Caldwell  when  he  says:  *' I 
cannot  imagine  any  person  who  has  lived  and 
moved  among  uneducated  heathen  in  the  rural 
districts  believing  them  to  be  influenced  by  high 
motives  in  anything  they  do.  They  have  never 
heard  of  such  things  as  high  motives,  and  cannot 
for  a  long  time  be  made  to  comprehend  what  they 
mean."  .  It  is  true  that  Buddhism  taught  a  form  of 


52  MODERN  MISSIONS. 

self-sacrifice,  which  is  said  to  be  the  foundation  of 
the  whole  complex  system;  and  of  Buddha  him- 
self it  is  related  that  in  one  previous  existence 
he  plucked  out  his  own  eyes,  and  that  in  another 
he  cut  off  his  own  head,  and  that  in  a  third  he  cut 
his  own  body  to  pieces  to  redeem  a  dove  from  a 
hawk.  But  the  distinction  between  the  self-sacri- 
fice taught  by  Buddhism  and  that  inculcated  and 
nobly  illustrated  by  Jesus  Christ  is  thus  clearly  set 
forth  by  Sir  Monier  Williams,  probably  the  world's 
highest  authority  on  that  ancient  religion :  **  Chris- 
tianity demands  the  suppression  of  selfishness; 
Buddhism  demands  the  suppression  of  self.  In 
the  one  the  true  self  is  elevated  and  intensified;  in 
the  other  the  true  self  is  annihilated  by  the  prac- 
tice of  a  false  form  of  nonselfishness,  which  has  for 
its  final  object  the  annihilation  of  the  ego,  the  utter 
extinction  of  personal  individuality." 

Mohammedanism  offers  its  worshipers  not  high 
moral  and  intellectual  felicity,  but  "the  everlast- 
ing gratification  of  their  passions."  Gratification 
of  the  lower  nature  becomes,  therefore,  the  object 
of  life.  Its  ethical  system  approves  and  encour- 
ages polygamy,  divorce,  and  slavery,  thus  poison- 
ing domestic  life,  degrading  manhood,  and  disor- 
ganizing society.  Individuality  is  absorbed  into 
the  life  of  the  system,  and  all  freedom  of  thought 


CHRISTIANITY  AND  OTHER   RELIGIONS.  53 

and  right  of  private  judgment  entirely  destroyed. 
As  a  matter  of  history,  the  legitimate  result  of 
such  ethics  and  ignoble  aims,  non-Christian  reli- 
gions have  developed  no  ''  creative  personalities, 
no  men  who  have  originated  and  led  great  move- 
ments for  the  world's  uplifting.  They  have  pro- 
duced no  philanthropists  and  reformers  and  broad- 
minded  patriots.  Where  are  theij  John  Howards 
and  John  Wesleys  and  George  Washingtons? 
Out  of  such  religions  they  can  never  be  evolved. 
The  highest  expression  of  philanthropy  in  all  India 
is  hospitals  for  sick  animals,  inspired  by  their  doc- 
trine of  transmigration.  They  will  neglect  afflicted 
men  to  care  for  a  diseased  dog,  for  in  so  doing  they 
may  be  ministering  to  a  dead  son  or  daughter. 

Contrast  these  dreary  dreams  of  paganism  with 
the  lofty  ideals  and  mighty  motives  of  Christian- 
ity. Other  religions  have  naught  to  live  for  but 
the  present,  and  the  present  is  considered  essen- 
tially evil.  All  the  motives  of  a  great  life  are 
wanting.  The  future  is  but  a  dream  at  best.  But 
how  invigorating  and  inspiring  are  the  ideals  of 
Christianity!  What  exalted  purposes  to  kindle 
aspiration!  What  noble  enterprises  to  command 
our  best  endeavors !  We  are  exhorted  to  nothing 
short  of  imitation  of  God  himself.  *' Be  ye  imi- 
tators of  God,  as  dear  children." 


54  MODRRN   MISSIONS. 

Christianity  exalts  the  meaning  and  mission  of 
life.  Its  plans  are  projected  into  the  eternal  years. 
A  man  cannot  rise  above  the  object  of  his  affec- 
tion. Hence  the  exhortation,  *'  set  your  affection 
upon  things  above,  not  on  things  on  the  earth." 
If  the  object  of  love  is  base  and  lov^,  the  man  him- 
self will  be  degraded  to  its  level.  If  it  is  lofty  and 
noble,  he  will  be  lifted  up  to  its  splendid  nobility, 
however  exalted.  He  cannot  rise  above  his  ideal. 
He  rises  or  falls  with  the  object  of  his  supremest 
hope  and  affection.  How  striking  is  that  picture 
John  Bunyan  drew  of  the  old  man  with  the  muck 
rake  in  hand,  bent  low  at  his  work,  raking  rotting 
weeds  and  leaves  together;  while  just  above  him 
floated  an  angel,  on  radiant  wing,  with  a  crown 
in  hand  ready  to  place  it  upon  his  brow  if  he 
would  only  straighten  up ;  but  he  never  wore  it, 
because  he  never  looked  up.  He  lost  a  crown  by 
always  looking  down.  That  is  a  faithful  picture 
of  unsaved  humanity  everywhere,  especially  in 
heathen  lands.  A  religion  that  has  no  lofty  ideals 
— no  hope  in  the  future — and  does  not  train  the 
eye  of  the  soul  to  look  upward,  has  no  '*  joy  and 
crown."  The  sad  angel  may  linger,  poised  on 
weary  wing,  but  the  hour  of  coronation  will  never 
come. 

The  unapproachable  superiority  of  Christianity 


CHRISTIANITY  AND   OTHER  RELIGIONS.  55 

is  further  shown  in  its  symmetrical  develofment  of 
human  character.      And   after  all  it  is   symmetry 
that  gives  beauty  to  character.     It  is  formed  not  so 
much  by  **the  gigantic  size  of  one  virtue,"  as  by 
the  harmony  and  completeness  of  all.     Unlike  na- 
tional religions,  with   their  limitations  to  the  sup- 
posed needs  of  national  life  and  their  adaptations 
to  national  character,  Christianity  touches  htunaii- 
ity  at  every  point,   and  is   adapted   not  only  to  all 
men,  but  to  the  whole  man.     There  are  no  metes 
and  bounds  to  its  **  exceeding  breadth."     It  is  not 
only  *^  familiar  with  the   chief  notes  of  character, 
but  also  with  those  many  semitones  whose  happy 
introduction  makes  the  full  music  of  moral  perfec- 
tion."     There  is  not  one  appeal  to  one  set  of  mo- 
tives,  and    an   ominous    silence    toward    another; 
not  a  generous   response  to   some  cravings  of  the 
human   heart,   and  a  hard,  closed  hand  to  others 
equally  urgent;   but  has  an  attentive  ear  for  every 
cry  of  humanity — an  unlimited   supply  for  every 
need,  ample  reward  for  every  effort,  and  an  open, 
inviting  field  for  the   loftiest  aspirations  and  the 
grandest  achievements.    The  gentler  and  the  stur- 
dier virtues   are   alike   developed.     I   thank   Mr. 
Watkinson  for  this  striking  figure   and   eloquent 
passage:    *' The  famous  violin  of  the   Hardanger 
region  has  its  four  delicate  under-strings,  whose 


56  MODERN  MISSIONS. 

vibrations  add  weird  harmonies  to  the  tones  pro- 
duced by  the  stroke  of  the  bow  on  the  four  prin- 
cipal strings ;  so  a  nature  developed  and  perfected 
by  communion  with  Christ  not  only  responds  to 
the  great  appeals  of  common  veracity  and  justice, 
but,  full  of  the  fine  chords,  makes  all  the  delicate 
music  which  discerning  souls  know  to  be  the  mu- 
sic of  the  upper  spheres." 

Our  religion  contemplates  the  sanctification  of 
the  whole  man,  and  is  concerned  with  the  entire 
range  and  round  of  life's  activities  and  duties. 
**  Whether  therefore  ye  eat,  or  drink,  or  what- 
soever ye  do,  do  all  to  the  glory  of  God."  (i 
Cor.  X.  31.) 

In  his  first  Epistle  to  the  Church  at  Thessalonica 
St.  Paul  thus  prays:  '*And  the  God  of  peace  him- 
self sanctify  you  wholly;  and  may  your  spirit  and 
soul  and  body  be  preserved  entire,  without  blame 
at  the  coming  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  Faithful 
is  he  that  calleth  you,  who  will  also  do  it." 

All  that  is  purest  in  purpose  and  holiest  in  life 
and  tenderest  in  sympathy  and  sweetest  in  mercy 
and  freest  in  charity  and  fairest  in  virtue  and  most 
beautiful  in  character  are  the  direct  inspiration  of 
the  Christian  religion.  But  under  no  heathen  sys- 
tem of  religion  or  philosophy,  even  those  with  the 
largest  element  of  truth,  is  it  possible  to  develop 


CHRISTIANITY  AND   OTHER  RELIGIONS.  57 

a  full-orbed  character.  At  the  best,  '*  a  man  car- 
ries a  catechism  in  his  head  and  an  arctic  winter 
in  his  soul." 

Christianity  alone  gives  co^nfort  in  bereavement. 
Every  other  religion  is  pitiless.  They  have  no 
voice  to  sympathize,  no  hand  to  soothe,  no  hope 
to  cheer.  Without  a  resurrection  faith  there  is  no 
cure  for  human  sorrow.  Nothing  can  be  more 
utterly  cheerless  than  the  doctrine  of  the  transmi- 
gration of  souls:  that  our  loved  ones  are  reappear- 
ing in  the  forms  of  beasts  and  birds  and  fishes. 
One  tradition  is  that  Buddha  himself  had  five  hun- 
dred and  fifty  earlier  lives  before  he  became  the 
son  of  Suddhodana.  He  had  lived  as  a  rat  and  a 
crow,  as  a  frog  and  a  hare,  as  a  dog  and  a  pig, 
twice  as  a  fish,  six  times  as  a  snipe,  four  times  as  a 
golden  eagle,  four  times  as  a  peacock  and  as  a  ser- 
pent, ten  times  as  a  goose,  as  a  deer,  and  as  a  lion, 
six  times  as  an  elephant,  four  times  as  a  horse  and 
as  a  bull,  eighteen  times  as  an  ape,  four  times  as  a 
slave,  three  times  as  a  potter,  thirteen  times  as  a 
merchant,  twenty-four  times  as  a  Brahman  and  as 
a  prince,  fifty-eight  times  as  a  king,  twenty  times 
as  the  god  Indra,  and  four  times  as  Mahabrahman. 
A  believer  in  Jainism,  who  had  suffered  bereave- 
ment, was  asked  by  a  missionary  if  he  hoped  ever 
to  see  his  dear  one  again.     With  a  hopeless  ex- 


58  MODERN   MISSIONS. 

pression  of  countenance  he  replied:  *'  How  could 
I?  My  loved  one  is  gone,  gone  forever!"  No 
wonder  the  Hindoos  burn  their  dead,  for  why 
should  they  keep  a  body  whose  spirit  may  at  once 
become  a  frog  or  a  crow?  Hindooism  has  no 
graves.  To  their  faith  the  stone  can  never  be 
rolled  from  the  door  of  the  sepulcher,  and  the 
mortal  form  they  loved  never  be  clothed  with  im- 
mortality and  given  a  glorified  body.  Hope  never 
survives  death.     It  ends  all. 

The  highest  hope  of  Buddhism  is  annihilation^ 
It  teaches  that  life  is  essentially  evil,  and  escape 
therefrom  the  chief  end  of  man.  They  hold,  as 
Max  Miiller  tells  us,  that  **  true  wisdom  consists  in 
perceiving  the  nothingness  of  all  things,  and  is  a 
desire  to  become  nothing,  to  be  blown  out,  to  en- 
ter Nirvana.  .  .  .  If  to  be  is  misery,  not  to  be 
is  felicity;  and  this  felicity  is  the  highest  reward 
which  Buddha  promised  to  his  disciples."  And 
the  heaven  of  Mohammedanism  is  nothing  more 
than  a  *'  lustful  paradise." 

How  incomparably  more  comforting  and  sustain- 
ing is  our  Christian  religion !  It  has  a  balm  for 
every  wound,  a  comfort  for  every  sorrow,  and  a 
joyful  morning  for  every  night  of  weeping.  As 
contrasted  with  the  dreadful  doctrine  of  transmi- 
gration,   how   transfiguring    is    the    assurance    of 


CHRISTIANITY  AND   OTHER   RELIGIONS.  59 

heavenly  recognition :  that  we  shall  know  even 
as  we  are  known ! 

Heathen  religions  have  110  -power  to  elevate. 
Their  highest  aspiration  is  after  nonexistence. 
They  offer  only  a  state  of  ease  and  sloth.  Their 
heaven  is  an  eternity  of  idleness  or  unconscious- 
ness, as  in  Buddhism  and  Hindooism ;  or  a  '*  car- 
nival of  sensuous  pleasure,"  as  in  Mohammedan- 
ism. Their  gods  sleep.  All  energy  is  emascula- 
ted and  enterprise  is  treason  to  their  ancestral 
faith.  Hence  Eastern  nations  are  inert,  slothful, 
apathetic ;  and  this  apathy  is  no  less  appalling  than 
their  immorality. 

These  religions  debase  manhood  and  degrade 
womanhood.  No  wonder  a  poor  Hindoo  woman, 
in  sending  a  despairing  appeal  to  Queen  Victoria 
for  some  relief  in  India,  closed  with  this  agonizing 
prayer:  *'0  God,  I  pray  thee,  let  no  more  women 
be  born  in  this  land !" 

The  bells  of  Japan  are  tongueless.  They  have 
no  power  of  melody  within.  By  means  of  a  large 
beam  swung  on  ropes  the  ponderous  bells  are 
struck  on  the  outside  and  made  to  wake  the  echoes 
of  mountain  and  valley.  And  this  I  have  thought 
most  fitly  represents  the  civilizations  and  religions 
of  all  the  Orient.  Dominated  by  a  conservatism 
that  produces  stagnation,  and  their  religions  Sesti- 


6o  MODERN  MISSIONS. 

tute  of  fellowship  and  hope,  and  therefore  without 
inspiration,  they  have  no  capacity  within  them- 
selves of  elevating  nations  and  making  music  for 
the  march  of  the  generations.  But  when  struck 
from  without — struck  by  the  hammer  of  Christian 
truth,  struck  by  the  wand  of  Western  enterprise, 
struck  by  the  power  of  modern  progress — chimes 
are  awakened  that  charm  the  ear  of  nations  and 
thrill  the  old  lands  themselves  with  the  possibilities 
of  a  new  and  larger  life.  The  late  brilliant  cam- 
paign of  the  Japanese  against  China — one  splendid 
victory  succeeding  another  with  the  rapidity  of  a 
drama,  marching  with  almost  unchallenged  step 
from  one  conquered  field  to  another — was  really 
the  majestic  movement  of  Western  ideas  against 
the  impassive  and  imperturbable  Orient.  The 
thunder  of  every  Japanese  gun  hurled  a  projectile 
of  Western  thought.  But  all  must  come  from  with- 
out, and  from  the  direct  influence  of  Christian  na- 
tions. 

The  only  possible  exception  to  the  sterilizing  in- 
fluences of  non-Christian  religions  is  Mohammed- 
anism ;  but  those  who  speak  by  the  authority  of  ac- 
curate and  ample  knowledge  admit  that  it  can  only 
lift  savage  races  up  to  a  certain  point  (say  to  the 
Arabian  civilization  of  the  seventh  century),  and 
then  * '  further  progress  is  impossible  except  upon  its 


CHRISTIANITY  AND   OTHER  RELIGIONS.  6l 

absolute  rejection."  Mackey,  of  Uganda,  speaks 
of  the  '*  strange  venom  "  of  Islam,  and  describes  its 
votaries  as  ' '  guilty  of  every  form  of  uncleanness  and 
robbery  and  tyranny  and  murder."  I  know  of  no 
more  discriminating  and  just  description  of  the 
genius,  spirit,  and  influence  of  Mohammedanism 
than  is  to  be  found  in  these  words  from  the  pen  of 
Bishop  Alexander:  "It  once  elevated  the  pagan 
Arabs.  Even  now  it  elevates  the  negro  above  his 
fetich;  but  it  must  ever  remain  a  religion  for  sta- 
tionary races,  with  its  sterile  god  and  its  poor  lit- 
erality,  the  dead  book  pressing  upon  it  with  a 
weight  of  lead.  Its  merits  are  these:  It  inculcates 
a  lofty,  if  sterile,  theism  ;  it  fulfills  the  pledge  con- 
veyed in  the  word  **  Moslem  "  by  inspiring  a  calm, 
if  frigid,  resignation  to  destiny;  it  teaches  the  duty 
of  prayer  with  strange  impressiveness;  but  whole 
realms  of  thought  and  feeling  are  crushed  out  by 
its  bloody  and  lustful  grasp.  It  is  without  purity, 
without  tenderness,  and  without  humility." 

Mohammedanism  has  blighted  every  land  it  has 
touched.  It  is  an  absolute  despotism,  and  crushes 
out  the  very  life  of  nations.  Founded  on  the  prin- 
ciple of  war,  the  resources  of  the  countries  are 
drunk  up  by  its  sword.  It  destroys  accumulated 
wealth.  It  blasted  Arabia,  bankrupted  Egypt,  and 
exhausted  Persia.     Agriculture  is  discouraged  by 


62  MODERN  MISSIONS. 

its  frail  land  tenure.  Look  at  Arabia,  at  Persia, 
at  Turkey,  at  Egypt,  at  all  Syria.  Its  history  is  a 
track  of  desolation  and  lamentation.  It  has  no 
conservative  forces. 

But  on  the  other  hand  Christianity  has  demon- 
strated itself  to  be  the  great  character-developing 
and  nation-uplifting  force  in  the  world.  It  gives 
dignity  to  labor,  sanctity  to  marriage,  nobility  to 
woman,  purity  to  domestic  and  social  life,  and 
promotes  the  brotherhood  of  man.  It  finds  deserts 
and  makes  them  gardens,  trackless  forests  and 
converts  them  into  fruitful  fields,  dreary  marshes 
and  builds  great  cities  therein,  hitherto  unknown 
continents  and  establishes  therein  a  higher  civili- 
zation. What  has  been  said  of  some  countries 
will  soon  be  said  of  every  mission  field:  *'  Nations 
have  been  transformed;  Christianity  has  become 
the  law  of  the  land;  and  idols,  once  in  every  house, 
have  not  been  found,  even  as  curios  and  relics  I 
The  adamantine  wall  of  caste,  the  iron  wheel 
of  transmigration,  the  brazen  fetters  of  Moslem 
bigotry,  the  hopeless  thraldom  of  fetichism,  have 
alike  proved  powerless  to  oppose  the  simple  gos- 
pel of  Christ."  Everything  lives  whither  the  riv- 
er Cometh. 

The  marvelous  progress  of  the  world  is  limited 
to   Christian    nations.     Account  for   it   as   others 


CHRISTIANITY  AND   OTHER  RELIGIONS.  63 

may,  the  astonishing  fact  remains  that  only  in 
Christian  countries  is  there  any  development,  while 
in  all  heathen  lands  there  is  stagnation  and  decay. 
Now  how  is  this  progress  to  be  explained?  Why 
this  strange  coloring  of  the  maps  of  the  world? 
How  happens  it  that  the  progressive  and  nonpro- 
gressive nations  are  differentiated  by  their  attitude 
to  Christianity? 

Another  fact  distinguishing  Christianity  from 
other  religions  is  its  attitude  toward  its  Founder. 
Christ,  the  center  of  the  Christian  system,  is  the 
supremest  object  of  affection  and  adoration;  the 
founders  of  other  faiths  may  be  revered,  but  are 
not  loved.  Confucius,  the  greatest  philosopher  of 
the  East,  is  honored  for  his  wisdom;  but  while  his 
words  are  cherished,  his  person  has  no  inspiration. 
Gautama,  the  founder  of  Buddhism,  has  not  in 
himself  any  special  charm  to  the  votaries  of  that 
faith.  Mohammed  was  a  magnetic  and  intrepid 
leader,  but  only  a  prophet  claiming  to  speak  for 
the  Lord.  But  in  Christianity  it  is  the  person  of 
Christ  that  has  attractive  and  ennobling  power. 
Christian  loyalty  is  animated  by  personal  affection ; 
the  heathen  obeys  through  fear.  The  difference 
between  Christian  and  heathen  service  is  the  dif- 
ference between  obedience  and  subservience.  The 
Christian   says,  '*  O,   how   I   love  thy  law!"  the 


64  MODERN  MISSIONS. 

heathen  says,  **  O,  how  I  dread  the  gods!'* 
What  the  venerable  Dr.  Legge  says  of  the  Chinese 
may  be  said  with  equal  emphasis  of  the  disciples 
of  all  heathen  religions:  **  I  have  been  reading 
Chinese  books  for  more  than  forty  years,  and  any 
general  requirement  to  'love  God,'  or  the  men- 
tion of  any  one  as  '  loving  him,'  has  yet  to  come 
for  the  first  time  under  my  eye." 

But  in  Christianity  devotion  to  Jesus  Christ  is 
the  source  of  all  strength  and  the  inspiration  of 
every  enduring  form  of  heroism.  In  his  *'  History 
of  European  Morals  "  Mr.  Lecky  pays  this  tribute 
to  Christianity  as  a  reforming  and  uplifting  force 
in  the  world,  the  secret  of  which  he  discovers  in 
the  person  of  its  great  Founder:  **  It  has  been  re- 
served for  Christianity  to  present  to  the  world  an 
ideal  character  which  through  all  the  changes  of 
eighteen  centuries  has  filled  the  hearts  of  men  with 
an  impassioned  love;  has  shown  itself  capable  of 
acting  in  all  ages,  temperaments,  and  conditions; 
has  not  only  been  the  highest  pattern  of  virtue,  but 
the  highest  incentive  to  its  practice,  and  has  exer- 
cised so  deep  an  influence  that  it  may  be  truly  said 
that  the  simple  record  of  three  short  years  of 
Christ's  active  life  has  done  more  to  regenerate 
and  soften  mankind  than  all  the  disquisitions  of 
philosophers  and  all  the  exhortations  of  moralists. 


CHRISTIANITY  AND  OTHER  RELIGIONS.  65 

It  has  been  the  wellspring  of  whatever  is  best  and 
purest  in  the  Christian  Hfe.  Amid  all  the  sins  and 
failings,  amid  all  the  priestcraft  and  persecution 
and  fanaticism  that  have  defaced  the  Church,  it 
has  preserved  in  the  character  and  example  of 
its  Founder  an  enduring  principle  of  regenera- 
tion." 

Paul,  the  great,  calm  thinker  and  apostolic  lead- 
er, voiced  at  once  his  own  ardent  love  for  his  Lord, 
and  the  sum  of  every  true  Christian's  faith,  when  he 
exclaimed,  **  For  me  to  live  is  Christ,  and  to  die 
is  gain;  "  and  then,  enraptured  with  the  prospect 
of  an  eternal  and  uninterrupted  personal  fellow- 
ship, said  that  he  desired  '*  to  depart,  and  to  be 
with  Christ;  which  is  far  better."  The  aged  and 
sainted  Polycarp,  of  Smyrna,  when  standing  at  the 
stake  where  his  body  was  to  be  burned,  and 
begged  to  recant  that  he  might  escape  the  flames, 
made  answer  in  these  brave  words:  **  Eighty  and 
six  years  have  I  been  his  servant,  and  he  never 
did  me  an  injury;  how,  then,  can  I  blaspheme  my 
King,  who  is  my  Saviour?  "  And  similar  testimo- 
ny, in  flame  and  blood,  has  been  borne  by  multi- 
plied millions.  Dean  Farrar  says,  with  as  much 
force  as  beauty:  '*  It  is  strange  and  touching  to 
see  how  this  character,  with  the  winning  love  of 
its  irresistible  tenderness,  by  the  moral  sorcery  of 


66  MODERN  MISSIONS. 

its  infinite  self-sacrifice,  pervades,  astonishes,  over- 
whelms, subdues." 

But  heathen  religions  have  no  such  joyous  spir- 
itual fellowship  and  no  such  object  of  affection  or 
encouragement  to  glorious  endeavor.  Their  gods 
are  as  cold  as  an  arctic  winter,  without  love  them- 
selves, and  unable  to  enkindle  it  in  others.  Speak- 
ing of  the  missionary  Hionen — Thsang — called  the 
St.  Francis  Xavier  of  Buddhism — who  traveled 
once  for  four  days  and  nights  through  a  desert 
without  a  drop  of  water.  Prof.  Max  Miiller  says: 
*'  He  had  nothing  to  refresh  himself  except  his 
prayers,  and  what  were  they?  Texts  from  a  work 
which  taught  that  there  was  no  God,  no  Creator, 
no  creation — nothing  but  mind,  minding  itself." 

Of  the  Christ  and  his  quiet  conquests  Jean  Paul 
Richter  says:  **  The  lowliest  among  the  mighty 
and  the  mightiest  among  the  lowly,  who  with 
pierced  hand  has  lifted  the  gates  of  empires  off 
their  hinges,  turned  the  course  of  history  out  of 
its  channel,  and  still  governs  the  centuries." 

Christianity  is  also  distinguished  from  other  re- 
ligions by  the  manner  of  its  growth  and  the  7neth- 
ods  of  its  -progress.  It  proposes  to  conquer  the 
world,  but  only  by  love.  It  marshals  no  armies 
and  commands  no  navies  and  seeks  to  compel  no 
people  by  force  to  surrender  to  the  rule  of  the 


CHRISTIANITY  AND   OTHER  RELIGIONS.  67 

King  of  kings.  As  Athanasius  says,  ''  No  forced 
obedience  pleases  God.  He  dislikes  that  men 
should  be  made  religious  by  hatchet  and  sword." 
And  whenever  misguided  zealots  have  used  the 
enginery  of  war  or  the  power  of  civil  government 
to  advance  the  cause  of  Christ,  the  cause  itself 
has  suffered  and  the  Spirit  of  the  Lord  has  been 
grieved.  The  Word  will  win  the  world,  ''not  by 
might,  nor  by  power,  but  by  my  Spirit,  saith  the 
Lord  of  hosts."  It  advances  by  simple,  gentle, 
unobtrusive  means.  As  quiet  as  leaven,  as  soft  as 
light,  as  persistent  as  salt,  is  the  gospel  of  the 
kingdom  "that  cometh  not  with  observation."  It 
asks  not  the  power  of  kings,  nor  the  patronage  of 
state,  but  only  the  privilege  of  simple  proclamation 
and  the  miracle  of  holy  living.  These  are  the  only 
means  by  which  its  conquest  of  the  nations  is  to  be 
achieved.  Its  victories  have  been  won  "  not  be- 
cause of  princes,  but  in  spite  of  them."  By  he- 
roic endurance,  by  burning  zeal,  by  boundless 
love,  the  uttermost  parts  of  the  earth  are  to  be 
possessed. 

But  no  other  faith  has  so  won  its  way  in  the 
world.  By  the  patronage  of  princes  and  the  pow- 
er of  the  sword  every  one  has  attained  influence 
and  wide  acceptance.  For  centuries  there  was 
ceaseless  conflict  between  Hindooism  and  Bud- 


68  MODERN  MISSIONS. 

dhism  in  India,  and  at  last  the  latter  had  to  cross 
the  Himalayas  and  flee  the  country,  leaving  only 
a  small  following  on  the  island  of  Ceylon.  Shin- 
toism  is  interwoven  with  the  life  of  the  State.  And 
Mohammedanism  is  only  another  name  for  human 
cruelty  and  fanatical  ferocity.  The  richest  re- 
wards and  the  most  conspicuous  places  in  the  sev- 
enth heaven  were  promised  those  whose  swords 
were  wet  with  the  blood  of  the  largest  number  of 
infidels.  In  chapter  xlvii.  of  the  Koran  are  these 
words:  ''When  ye  encounter  the  unbelievers, 
strike  off  their  heads,  until  ye  have  made  a  great 
slaughter  among  them.  .  .  .  O  true  believers, 
if  ye  assist  God,  by  fighting  for  his  religion,  he 
will  assist  you  against  your  enemies,  and  will  set 
your  feet  fast;  but  as  for  the  infidels,  let  them 
perish,  and  their  works  shall  God  render  vain.'* 
Thus  their  hands  were  taught  to  war  as  the  rarest 
virtue,  and  assuring  the  richest  reward.  Mo- 
hammed went  so  far  as  to  say  that  ''paradise  rests 
under  the  shadow  of  swords."  The  difference 
between  Christianity  and  Islam  has  thus  been 
stated:  "Converts  were  gained  to  the  faith  of 
Jesus  by  witnessing  the  constancy  with  which  its 
confessors  suffered  death;  they  were  gained  to 
Islam  by  the  spectacle  of  the  readiness  with  which 
its  adherents  inflicted  death.     In  the  one  case  con- 


CHRISTIANITY  AND   OTHER  RELIGIONS.  69 

version  often  imperiled  the  believer's  life;  in  the 
other,  it  was  for  the  most  part  the  only  means  of 
saving  it." 

And  that  spirit  yet  abides  and  gloats  in  blood. 
The  atrocities  of  Armenia  have  appealed  to  the 
sympathy  of  the  world,  and  a  restraining  hand  has 
only  been  stayed  by  the  fear  of  the  greater  horrors 
of  a  European  war,  in  which  every  power  would 
be  involved.  But  Moslem  fanaticism  and  inhu- 
manity must  go  down  before  the  peaceful  triumphs 
of  the  Man  of  Galilee.  It  is  true  that  the  history 
of  Christians  under  Moslem  law  '*  is  only  an  unin- 
terrupted scene  of  tyranny,  violation,  'and  slaugh- 
ter;" but  its  civil  power  will  soon  be  broken,  and 
only  linger  as  a  hateful  memory. 

And  another  fact  which  shows  the  transcendent 
superiority  of  Christianity  over  other  religions,  is 
its  self-reciiferative  energy.  A  divine  religion  must 
have  the  power  of  self-recuperation.  If  it  wins  by 
its  inherent  energy,  it  must  organize  victory  even 
out  of  defeat.  A  religion  is  valueless  that  cannot 
meet  a  crisis.  If  dependent  upon  other  and  might- 
ier influences  for  deliverance  from  peril  or  recov- 
ery from  misalliance  and  mistake,  it  is  shorn  of 
any  claim  to  be  divine,  and  has  forfeited  all  right 
and  title  to  human  confidence.  Dependence  is 
not  a  quality  of  divinity.     If  a  religion  has  to  be 


70  MODERN  MISSIONS. 

buttressed  by  supports,  civil  and  secular,  it  is  man- 
made,  and  not  divine. 

Christianity  has  never  been  aided,  but  rather 
hindered,  by  too  close  alliance  with  civil  govern- 
ment. The  kingdoms  of  Christ  and  Caesar  should 
be  at  peace,  but  independent.  A  striking  illustra- 
tion of  the  positive  hurtfulness  to  Christianity  by 
this  forbidden  union  is  the  history  of  the  church 
in  connection  with  Constantine  the  Great.  I  adopt 
and  reproduce  the  vigorously  expressed  opinion 
of  Mr.  Wesley  thereon.  He  said:  **  Persecution 
never  did,  never  could,  give  any  lasting  wound  to 
genuine  Christianity.  But  the  greatest  it  ever  re- 
ceived, the  grand  blow  which  was  struck  at  the 
very  root  of  that  humble,  gentle,  patient  love  which 
is  the  fulfilling  of  the  Christian  law,  the  whole  es- 
sence of  true  religion,  was  struck  by  Constantine 
the  Great,  when  he  called  himself  a  Christian,  and 
poured  in  a  flood  of  riches  and  honor  and  power 
upon  the  Christians,  more  especially  upon  the 
clergy.  I  have  been  long  convinced  from  the 
whole  tenor  of  history  that  Constantine  calling 
himself  a  Christian  was  productive  of  more  evil 
to  the  Church  than  all  the  ten  persecutions  put 
together.  From  the  time  that  the  Church  and  the 
State,  the  kingdoms  of  Christ  and  of  the  world, 
were  so  strangely  and  unnaturally  blended  together, 


CHRISTIANITY  AND  OTHER   RELIGIONS.  7 1 

Christianity  and  heathenism  were  so  thoroughly  in- 
corporated with  each  other  that  they  will  hardly  ever 
be  divided  until  Christ  comes  to  reign  upon  earth." 

But  out  of  all  entanglements  of  false  friends, 
and  all  embarrassments  of  misguided  zeal,  and  all 
fierceness  of  persecution,  Christianity  comes  by  her 
own  unaided  effort,  with  a  mightier  vitality  and  a 
diviner  glory.  This  recuperative  and  triumphant 
spirit  of  our  holy  religion  dominates  the  very  meth- 
ods of  the  sacred  writers  even  when  pronouncing 
the  judgments  of  God.  Above  the  tones  of  lamen- 
tation there  is  always  a  voice  of  hope  and  the  shout 
of  final  victory.  Listen  to  Isaiah.  Dark  enough 
was  the  picture  he  drew  of  Israel's  downfall,  and 
dreadful  were  the  judgments  that  he  said  were  im- 
pending; but  out  of  the  gloom  he  sounded  a  note 
of  cheer,  "  Behold,  I  lay  in  Zion  for  a  foundation  a 
stone,  a  tried  stone,  a  precious  corner  stone,  a  sure 
foundation;"  and  St.  Paul,  pained  by  the  here- 
sies he  had  to  combat,  and  discouraged  by  so 
many  apostasies  from  the  true  faith,  until  he  is 
tempted  to  wonder  if  faith  will  still  be  found  in 
the  earth,  yet  cries  out,  with  the  notes  of  a  bugle, 
'^  nevertheless  the  foundation  of  God  standeth 
sure." 

And  Christianity  never  was  so  buoyant  and  ag- 
gressive  as    now.     Every   day    marks    a    notable 


72  MODERN  MISSIONS. 

advance.  Through  flame  and  flood  and  blood  the 
gospel  has  come,  and  moves  onward  with  a  stead- 
ier and  statelier  step  to  the  conquest  of  the  nations. 
Nothing  can  stay  its  conquering  course.  '*  No 
despotism  can  ever  destroy  or  permanently  arrest 
the  gospel,  because  it  has  the  light  of  God  upon  it 
and  the  life  of  men  within  it." 

The  age  is  remarkable  for  eager  inquiries  into 
the  life  and  person  of  Christ.  All  peoples  are  face 
to  iace  with  the  question:  **What  think  ye  of 
Christ?"  He  is  the  theme  of  poet,  the  study  of 
philosopher,  the  model  of  artist,  the  teacher  of 
statesmen,  the  inspiration  of  philanthropist,  the 
friend  of  the  poor,  and  the  brother  of  every  man. 
It  is  said  to  have  required  four  large  volumes  to 
record  simply  the  names  and  contents  of  the  books 
that  have  been  written  concerning  the  person  of 
Christ.  Mr.  Gladstone  says:  **  Talk  about  the 
questions  of  the  day:  there  is  but  one  question, 
and  that  is  the  gospel  of  Christ.  It  can  and  will 
correct  everything  needing  correction." 

But  while  Christianity  triumphs,  every  other  re- 
ligion is  failing.  They  are  toppling  to  their  utter 
ruin.  Enfeebled  with  years,  they  are  without 
power  to  renew  their  youth  like  the  eagle.  Their 
vitality  is  decaying,  with  nothing  to  arrest  the 
process  of  death.     Their  most  sacred  shrines  are 


CHRISTIANITY  AND   OTHER  RELIGIONS.  73 

neglected,  and  venerable  temples  are  crumbling. 
A  waning  crescent,  Moslems  themselves  admit, 
fitly  foretells  their  future.  In  the  published  ac- 
counts of  the  burning  of  the  famous  mosque  at 
Damascus  a  few  years  ago  there  was  a  suggestive 
coincidence,  if  not  a  striking  prophecy.  It  was 
built  on  the  sacred  spot  where  once  stood  the  old 
Byzantine  Church,  dedicated  to  St.  John  the  Bap- 
tist. In  building  this  Moslem  temple  one  of  the 
Roman  arches  was  blended  in  the  superstructure, 
on  which  was  a  Greek  inscription  from  the  Holy 
Scriptures.  After  the  great  fire  the  arch  was  found 
in  place,  bending  over  the  ruins,  bearing  these 
words:  "  Thy  kingdom,  O  Christ,  and  thy  domin- 
ion endureth  throughout  all  ages." 

The  distinguished  Boden  Professor  of  Sanscrit 
at  Oxford,  probably  the  best  authority,  says  that 
*'  as  a  form  of  popular  religion  Buddhism  is  grad- 
ually losing  its  vitality  and  hold  on  the  vast  popu- 
lations once  loyal  to  its  rule."  He  computes  the 
number  of  Buddhists  at  one  hundred  million,  not 
four  hundred  million,  as  hitherto  estimated;  and 
gives  the  first  place  numerically  to  Christianity. 
The  order,  according  to  number  of  adherents,  is 
as  follows:  Christianity,  Confucianism,  Hindooism, 
Buddhism,  Mohammedanism. 

There  is  a  painting  in  the  Vatican  gallery  repre 


74  MODERN  MISSIONS. 

senting  pag-am'sm  m  prop/iecy.  It  is  a  broken  col- 
umn, which  has  fallen,  and  is  partly  covered  with 
sand  and  weeds.  However  long  it  may  have  stood 
in  stately  strength,  at  last  it  falls,  and  is  being 
fast  buried  out  of  sight.  The  picture  is  true  to 
life.  History  is  rapidly  fulfilling  that  prophecy. 
Throughout  the  world  the  power  of  paganism  is , 
broken,  and  sooner  or  later  will  be  covered  under 
the  sweep  and  growth  of  the  centuries. 

But  I  have  another  picture  in  mind — a  figure  of 
Christianity — not  in  dead  stone,  but  in  living  na- 
ture. I  find  it  in  an  account  of  a  mysterious  tree 
in  the  old  city  of  Canton,  China.  It  grows  on  the 
ruins  of  an  ancient  pagoda,  and  is  green  all  the 
year  round.  From  what  source  it  draws  its  vigor- 
ous and  beautiful  life  is  something  of  a  mystery. 
Other  leaves  turn  sear  and  yellow,  but  these  seem 
never  to  fade.  On  the  crumbling  debris  of  that 
old,  decaying  pagoda,  the  tree  waves  aloft  its 
green  branches  like  another  angel  of  the  resurrec- 
tion, proclaiming  its  independence  and  defiance  of 
the  whole  empire  of  death.  That  is  God's  proph- 
ecy in  a  figure.  On  the  ruins  of  Confucianism, 
Buddhism,  Hindooism,  and  every  doomed  religion, 
there  has  been  planted  the  tree  of  life,  whose  leaves 
are  for  the  heahng  of  the  nations,  and  which  bear- 
eth  its  fruit  in  all  seasons. 


CHRISTIANITY  AND   OTHER  RELIGIONS.  75 

I  conclude,  therefore,  this  discussion  with  the 
eloquent  exhortation  of  Sir  Monier  Williams,  whose 
profound  knowledge  of  other  religions  has  only  in- 
tensified his  appreciation  of  the  absolute  truth  of 
the  Christian  system  and  strengthened  his  faith  in 
its  ultimate  and  glorious  triumph.     He  says: 

Go  forth,  then,  je  missionaries,  in  jour  Master's  name;  go 
forth  into  all  the  world,  and,  after  studying  all  its  false  religions 
and  philosophies,  go  forth  and  fearlessly  proclaim  to  suffering 
humanity  the  plain,  the  unchangeable,  the  eternal  facts  of  the 
gospel;  nay,  I  might  almost  say  the  stubborn,  the  unyielding, 
the  inexorable  facts  of  the  gospel.  Dare  to  be  downright  with 
all  the  uncompromising  courage  of  your  own  Bible,  while  with 
it  your  watchwords  are  love,  joy,  peace,  reconciliation.  Be 
fair,  be  charitable,  be  Christlike,  but  let  there  be  no  mistake. 
Let  it  be  made  absolutely  clear  that  Christianity  cannot,  must 
not,  be  watered  down  to  suit  the  palate  of  either  Hindoo,  Parsee, 
Confucianist,  Buddhist,  or  Mohammedan ;  and  that  whosoever 
wishes  to  pass  from  the  false  religion  to  the  true  can  never 
hope  to  do  so  by  the  rickety  planks  of  compromise,  or  by  the 
help  of  faltering  hands  held  out  by  half-hearted  Christians.  He 
must  leap  the  gulf  in  faith,  and  the  living  Christ  will  spread  his 
everlasting  arms  beneath,  and  land  him  safely  on  the  eternal 
Rock. 


LECTURE  IIL 


PORTABLE  EVIDENCES  FROM  MANY 
LANDS. 


III. 

PORTABLE  EVIDENCES  FROM  MANY  LANDS. 

IN  this  lecture  I  shall  consider  what  has  been 
happily  called  ''  the  portable  evidences  "  of 
Christianity — the  testimony  of  those  in  different 
lands  and  reared  under  various  religions  who  have 
put  our  religion  to  an  experimental  test  and  have 
become  *'  living  epistles"  of  its  redeeming  virtue 
and  power.  Christianity  claims  to  produce  certain 
results  wherever  and  whenever  embraced  by  indi- 
viduals and  peoples.  It  only  asks  to  be  tested  by 
a  spiritual  trial  of  its  divine  energy.  Indeed,  it 
seeks  every  opportunity  of  making  demonstration 
of  its  infinite  power.  And  after  all,  a  spiritual  ex- 
perience is  the  final  evidence.  Slightly  modified, 
I  adopt  the  words  of  Thomas  Carlyle :  To  test  re- 
ligion, and  *' to  'teach'  religion,  the  first  thing 
needful,  and  also  the  last  and  the  only  thing,  is 
the  finding  of  a  man  who  has  religion."  A  living 
Lazarus,  who  has  been  four  days  dead,  is  the  con- 
vincing answer  to  all  cavil.  He  is  the  absolute 
demonstration  of  resurrection  power.  Bishop 
Westcott  thus  clearly  states  the  case:  "  The  veri- 
fication of  the  gospel  is  in  and  through  life,  the 
life  of  men,  and  the  life  of  each  man.     It  is  veri- 


8o  MODERN  MISSIONS. 

fied  outwardly  by  the  testimony  of  history;   it  is 
verified  inwardly  by  the  testimony  of  experience." 

Now  it  is  boldly  affirmed  that  Christianity  ex- 
tends, without  distinction,  ''to  all  men,  to  the 
whole  of  man,  to  all  being  and  to  all  time,"  and 
that  it  is  entirely  adequate  to  meet  the  needs  of  all 
men,  and  is  perfectly  adapted  to  every  possible 
human  condition.  Of  course,  such  a  claim  must 
be  supported  by  evidence.  But  if  men  in  differ- 
ent lands  and  latitudes,  in  every  stage  of  civiliza- 
tion and  intelligence,  and  reared  under  various 
philosophies  and  religions,  from  the  highest  Bud- 
dhism to  the  lowest  fetichism  of  the  South  Sea 
Islands,  embrace  Christianity  and  bear  the  same 
testimony  to  its  saving  and  sanctifying  power,  we 
are  justified  in  accepting  the  universality  of  its 
adaptation  and  mission — its  perfect  correspond- 
ence "  with  the  original  constitution  and  the  actual 
condition  of  man." 

Our  Lord  certainly  had  a  vision  of  world-wide 
empire.  He  purposed  nothing  less  than  a  univer- 
sal and  everlasting  kingdom.  His  command,  there- 
fore, is  "to  preach  the  gospel  to  every  creature  " 
— no  limit  of  territory,  race,  caste,  class,  or  condi- 
tion. And  the  promise  is  that  "  all  shall  know  the 
Lord,  from  the  least  to  the  greatest."  And  that 
command  is  based  upon  the  possibility  of  univer- 


PORTABLE  EVIDENCES.  8l 

sal  redemption  and  the  pledge  of  His  exhaustless 
resources  to  achieve  it.  The  supposition  is  that 
no  such  command  would  have  been  given,  if  men 
were  not  able  to  receive  it.  Now  we  claim  that 
the  history  of  modern  Missions  has  converted  that 
conclusion  into  a  demonstration.  It  has  demon- 
strated the  capacity  of  man,  everywhere,  to  appre- 
hend Christian  truth.  He  may  not  be  able  to  un- 
derstand the  metaphysics  of  theology;  but  the  spir- 
itual verities  of  the  gospel,  which  renew  the  life 
and  mold  the  character,  can  be  apprehended  and 
reincarnated  by  all  men. 

This  broad  statement  is  supported  by  two  con- 
siderations : 

I.  Enlightenment  of  the  heart,  rather  than  the 
head,  is  the  condition  of  spiritual  knowledge.  The 
heart  has  eyes.  St.  Paul  speaks  of  '*  having  the 
eyes  of  your  heart  enlightened."  This  inner  eye, 
opened,  is  the  organ  of  spiritual  discernment. 
Now  it  is  much  the  same  in  all  men.  The  affec- 
tionate nature  and  the  natural  conscience  are  on 
the  same  level  among  all  races  and  nations.  There 
are  vast  differences  in  intellectual  capacity  and 
culture,  but  the  natural  heart  is  quite  the  same. 
Jeremy  Taylor  makes  this  discriminative  observa- 
tion: "Every  man  understands  more  of  religion 
by  his  affections  than  by  his  reason.     It  is  not  the 


82  MODERN   MISSIONS. 

wit  of  man,  but  the  spirit  of  the  man;  not  so  much 
his  head  as  his  heart  that  learns  the  divine  philos- 
ophy." Our  Lord  was  therefore  eminently  phil- 
osophical when  he  said:  '*  Blessed  are  the  pure  in 
heart:  for  they  shall  see  God." 

But  this  in  no  sense  discounts  the  intellect,  or 
underrates  the  right  use  of  reason  in  religion.  All 
religion  worthy  the  homage  of  the  heart  must 
have  an  intellectual  basis.  Knowledge  furnishes 
the  materials  of  faith.  A  distinguished  German 
writer  said:  ''  By  my  faith,  I  am  a  Christian;  by 
my  reason,  I  am  a  heathen."  On  that  covert  sneer 
Dr.  Fairbairn  makes  this  just  observation:  "Any 
theory  that  leaves  a  division  in  a  man's  own  soul 
is  false.  If  religion  be  a  mere  matter  of  faith,  un- 
able to  bear  the  light  of  reason,  it  is  untrue  to  the 
nature  the  Creator  gave  to  man." 

2.  The  other  consideration  is  that  obedience  is 
also  a  condition  of  spiritual  knowledge.  David, 
therefore,  spoke  of  himself  not  boastfully,  but 
philosophically,  when  he  said:  **  I  have  more  un- 
derstanding than  all  my  teachers,  because  I  keef 
thy  command^ne^its y  So  our  Lord  says:  ''  If  any 
man  will  do  his  will,  he  shall  know  of  the  doctrine, 
whether  it  be  of  God,  or  whether  I  speak  of  my- 
self." And  there  is  earnest  and  repeated  exhor- 
tation to  **  taste  and  see  that  the  Lord  is  good." 


PORTABLE  EVIDENCES.  83 

But  before  calling  the  witnesses  from  many 
lands,  and  of  every  color  of  skin  and  former  habit 
of  life  to  bear  testimony  to  the  regenerating  power 
of  Christianity  in  their  own  lives — to  speak  by  the 
authority  of  their  own  personal  experience — it  may 
be  well  to  define  Christian  experience,  and  con- 
sider what  is  the  value  of  such  testimony.  *'  Ex- 
perience," as  defined  b}^  the  lexicographers,  is 
*' particular  acquaintance  with  any  matter  by  per- 
sonal observation  or  trial  of  it;  by  feeling  its  ef- 
fects; by  living  through  it."  As  appHed  to  the 
Christian  religion  it  is,  in  a  word,  consciousness 
of  certain  internal  states  and  feelings,  through 
which  one  has  passed  or  is  passing.  Schleiermach- 
er  said  that  religion  is  not  a  system  of  dogmas,  but 
an  *' inward  experience." 

Now,  such  testimony — the  testimony  of  con- 
sciousness— is  most  valuable.  "  Behind  conscious- 
ness one  cannot  go;  as  far  back  as  consciousness 
religion  must  go,  or  its  work  is  superficial."  It  is 
''  the  affidavit  of  life  to  life."  About  every  impor- 
tant event  in  history  there  may  be  somewhat  vary- 
ing accounts  as  to  details.  These,  however,  do 
not  impeach,  but  rather  confirm,  the  reliability  of 
testimony.  But,  as  Dr.  Harrison  has  well  said, 
**  If  there  is  one  moral  fact  that  is  capable  of  ab- 
solute demonstration,   it  is  the  soul's   attitude  to- 


84  MODERN  MISSIONS. 

ward  its  Creator.  .  .  .  It  is  possible  to  dem- 
onstrate to  the  consciousness  of  man  both  his  need 
of  a  Saviour  and  the  presence  of  the  Saviour  that 
is  needed."  On  the  rehabiUty  of  experience  Leib- 
nitz says:  **  If  our  immediate  internal  experience 
could  possibly  deceive  us,  there  could  no  longer 
be  for  us  any  truth  of  fact;  nay,  nor  any  truth  of 
reason."  And  Herbert  Spencer  himself  admits 
the  demonstration  of  experiences  of  this  character 
in  this  luminous  sentence:  **When  .  .  .  the 
postulate  is  .  .  .  not  based  on  one  concrete 
experience,  .  .  .  but  implies  an  induction  from 
a  great  variety  of  experiences,  we  may  say  that  it 
ranks  next  to  the  postulates  of  exact  science,'''' 

And  in  this  connection  I  ask  you  to  delay  yet 
a  moment,  in  order  to  call  attention  to  an  impor- 
tant distinction,  suggested  by  Bishop  Foster,  that 
*' there  is  a  difference  between  an  experience  of 
Christianity  and  a  Christian  experience ^  The 
one  is  an  observation  of  its  moral,  social,  and  oth- 
er effects  upon  individuals,  peoples,  and  nations; 
while  the  other  is  purely  subjective — the  conscious- 
ness of  certain  spiritual  facts,  forces,  and  fruits  in 
the  individual  soul.  One,  therefore,  may  have  an 
experience  of  Christianity — may  have  extensive  and 
even  approving  knowledge  of  its  mighty  objective 
influences  and  results — and  yet  be  without  a  gen- 


PORTABLE  EVIDENCES.  85 

uine  Christian  experience.  Sir  William  Muir, 
once  Lieutenant  Governor  of  the  Northwest  Prov- 
inces, had  an  experience  of  Christianity,  but  not 
necessarily  a  Christian  experience,  when,  in  refer- 
ring to  the  increased  ratio  of  conversions,  he  said: 
*'And  they  are  not  shams  or  paper  converts,  as 
some  would  have  us  believe,  but  good,  honest 
Christians,  and  many  of  them  of  a  high  stand- 
ard." And  so  the  Governor  of  Madras,  a  few 
years  ago,  had  an  experience  of  Christianity  when 
he  reported  that  in  justice  to  those  nations  that 
had  adopted  Christianity  as  their  profession  in  In- 
dia, he  ought  not  to  refrain  from  bearing  his  testi- 
mony to  that  which  came  more  especially  under 
the  eyes  of  a  Governor — viz.,  their  conduct  in  civil 
matters  as  well  as  their  conduct  in  religious  mat- 
ters. When  they  come  to  large  masses  of  his  peo- 
ple, to  whole  villages  which  had  adopted  Chris- 
tianity, then  it  was  possible  to  those  in  authority 
to  form  some  opinion  as  to  whether  the  change  of 
creed  had  conduced  to  the  good  conduct  of  the 
converts;  and  he  must  not  refrain  from  saying 
that  the  tendency  of  the  change  had  been  de- 
cidedly good.  And  the  native  Prince  of  Travan- 
core,  though  avowedly  not  a  Christian,  had  an  ex- 
perience of  Christianity,  and  thus  publicly  stated 
the  results  of  his  observations : 


86  MODERN  MISSIONS. 

Where  did  the  English-speaking  people  get  all  their  intelli- 
gence and  energy  and  cleverness  and  power?  It  is  their  Bible 
that  gives  it  to  them.  And  now  thej  bring  it  to  us  and  say: 
«'  This  is  what  raised  us."  They  do  not  force  it  upon  us,  as  the 
Mohammedans  did  their  Koran;  but  they  bring  it  in  love,  and 
translate  it  into  our  languages,  and  lay  it  before  us,  and  say: 
"Look  at  it,  read  it,  examine  it,  and  see  if  it  is  not  good."  Of 
one  thing  I  am  convinced :  Do  what  we  will,  oppose  it  as  we 
may,  it  is  the  Christian  Bible  that  will,  sooner  or  later,  work 
the  regeneration  of  this  land.  Marvelous  has  been  the  effect 
of  Christianity  in  the  moral  molding  and  leavening  of  Europe. 
I  am  not  a  Christian;  I  do  not  accept  the  cardinal  tenets  of 
Christianity  as  they  concern  man  in  the  next  world;  but  I  ac- 
cept Christian  ethics  in  their  entirety.  I  have  the  highest  ad- 
miration for  them. 

Another  fact  should  not  be  overlooked:  While 
the  attitude  of  regenerated  souls  is  essentially  the 
same  toward  God  and  the  great  verities  of  the  gos- 
pel, **  every  experience  is  colored  by  the  subject  of 
the  experience."  Inherited  tendencies,  degrees  of 
intelligence,  peculiarities  of  temperament,  former 
habits,  and,  indeed,  everything  that  differentiates 
human  beings,  affect  and  determine  the  expressions 
of  this  new  life.  Mental  and  temperamental  char- 
acteristics are  untouched  in  regeneration.  Indi- 
viduality is  preserved.  So  in  Christian  experi- 
ence, *' every  bird  sings  according  to  its  beak." 
But  there  are  certain  great,  radical  results  wrought 
in  every  one  who  accepts  and,  with  the  heart,  be- 
lieves these  great  truths.     These  are  facts  of  con- 


PORTABLE  EVIDENCES.  87 

sciousness  to  which  he  testifies,  and  as  they  affect 
life  and  conduct  become  facts  of  observation. 

Now  in  Hstening  to  the  testimonies  of  native 
Christians,  recently  emerged  from  heathenism, 
and  studying  the  character  of  converts  in  the  va- 
rious mission  fields,  three  suggestions  are  offered 
for  our  guidance : 

<  I.  Oi  necessity  there  must  be  immaturity  of 
thought  and  character.  The  inheritors  of  cen- 
turies of  ignorance  and  superstition  cannot  escape 
the  period  of  spiritual  and  moral  infancy. 

2.  We  must  acknowledge  that  there  have  been 
discouraging  lapses  in  the  mission  fields.  Not 
every  convert  has  been  faithful  to  his  new  profes- 
sion. In  a  few  instances  whole  communities  have 
lapsed  into  heathenism.  The  break  with  old  faiths 
was  never  complete.  A  man  in  the  New  Hebrides, 
for  several  years  a  professor  of  Christianity,  was 
discovered,  after  his  death,  to  have  retained  three 
sacred  stones  with  which  to  raise  storms,  make 
rains,  and  bring  disease.  At  Delhi,  in  India, 
almost  one  entire  mission  returned  to  heathen 
rites.  That  these  lapses  should  occur  is  not  sur- 
prising. The  poison  of  superstition  transmitted 
through  the  centuries,  and  the  tyrannous  social  os- 
tracisms which  men  of  weak  courage  are  unable  to 
withstand,  may  easily  account  for  them.    We  won- 


88  MODERN  MISSIONS. 

der  that  so  few  fail,  that  so  many  are  steadfast. 
But  so  it  has  ever  been.  The  parable  of  the  sower 
is  at  once  the  picture  of  all  lands  and  the  history 
of  the  gospel  in  all  countries  and  centuries.  Some 
seed  fall  where  there  is  not  much  depth  of  earth. 
The  greatest  trial  of  St.  Paul's  faith  was  the  infi- 
delities of  professed  disciples.  On  one  occasion 
he  said  with  a  sad  heart:  '^Demas  hath  forsaken 
me."  Again:  *'A11  in  Asia  have  turned  aside  from 
me."  Often  he  had  to  lament  the  falling  away  of 
those  from  whom  he  had  a  right  to  expect  gener- 
ous support  and  valued  service. 

It  is  no  impeachment  of  the  integrity  of  Chris- 
tianity, and  no  underrating  of  its  saving,  sanctify- 
ing power,  that  all  its  frofessed  disciples  are  not 
saints;  that  some  are  defective  in  character,  un- 
trustworthy in  conduct,  and  positively  traitorous  in 
spirit.  Every  system  must  be  measured  by  its  best 
products,  by  its  noblest  results.  A  criminal  who 
defies  law,  outrages  public  morals,  and  suffers  the 
penalty  of  his  guilt,  is  not  a  fair  representative  of 
our  Christian  civilization.  He  is  the  condemnation, 
and  not  the  commendation,  of  our  national  life;  the 
refuse,  and  not  the  representative,  of  our  public 
opinion.  We  do  not  go  to  the  records  of  our  crim- 
inal courts,  to  our  prisons  and  scaffolds,  to  find 
the  flower  of  American  manhood  and  womanhood. 


PORTABLE  EVIDENCES.  89 

There  is  not  found  the  proper  standard  by  which 
to  measure  the  value  and  virtue  of  our  social  insti- 
tutions. We  must  look  into  our  American  homes, 
where  honor  and  integrity  dwell,  and  read  the 
stories  of  heroism,  patriotism,  and  piety  that  adorn 
the  annals  of  our  country,  if  we  would  have  a  true 
conception  of  the  spirit  and  power  of  our  national 
institutions. 

What,  then,  we  ask,  can  Christianity  do  in  de- 
veloping character  out  of  the  materials  and  cir- 
cumstances of  human  life  ?  What  are  the  legitimate 
products  of  its  ethics  and  its  religion?  Who  are 
the  proper  representatives  of  its  graces  and  virtues  ? 

In  the  New  Testament  these  graces  find  illustra- 
tion in  such  beautiful  characters  as  the  apostle 
John,  and  not  in  the  traitorous  conduct  of  an  Is- 
cariot;  the  splendid  heroism  of  St.  Paul,  and  not 
in  the  cunning  of  an  Alexander  the  coppersmith 
or  the  dupHcity  of  a  Simon  Magus. 

Because  Balaam  was  a  false  prophet  did  not  the 
Lord  have  any  voice  whom  the  people  could  trust? 
Were  there  no  loyal  souls  in  all  Israel  on  whose 
lips  God  had  placed  a  live  coal  from  off  his  high 
altar?  There  were  unworthy  priests  who  plun- 
dered the  sanctuary,  made  merchandise  of  their 
office,  and  burned  strange  fire  before  the  Lord. 
But  for  every  one  that  was  false  and  faithless  there 


90  MODERN   MISSIONS. 

were  a  hundred  who  had  clean  hands  and  pure 
hearts  and  clear  discernment  to  know  what  Israel 
ought  to  do.  And  so  through  the  ages  the  Church 
has  suffered  from  unworthy  friends,  but  God  has 
ever  had  brave  and  true  prophets  to  be  his  voice  to 
the  nations. 

3.  We  must  also  take  into  account  the  immense 
strain  upon  one's  fidelity  and  firmness  to  become 
a  Christian  in  a  heathen  land.  In  a  country  where 
Christianity  is  the  dominant  sentiment  there  is  lit- 
tle or  no  courage  in  confessing  Christ.  On  the 
contrary,  there  may  be  social  embarrassment  and 
political  ostracism  because  of  avowed  infidelity. 
It  may  be  true,  as  averred,  that  blatant  skepticism 
in  our  country  has  shut  the  door  of  high  political 
preferment  in  the  face  of  some  who  might  other- 
wise have  entered  in.  Now,  if  these  things  could 
occur  in  a  land  of  such  intellectual,  religious,  and 
political  tolerance,  what  might  we  not  expect  in 
the  narrow,  fanatical,  and  autocratic  countries  of 
the  East.  Attachment  to  Christianity  means  de- 
tachment from  everything  personally  and  socially 
dear  in  life.  Every  open  disciple  becomes  an  out- 
cast. The  confession  of  Christ  means  not  only 
**  exile,  poverty,  persecution,  contempt,  but  im- 
piety to  their  ancestors,  treason  to  their  country, 
sacrilege  to  their  gods." 


PORTABLE  EVIDENCES.  9I 

To  the  character  of  native  converts  in  India  this 
positive  testimony  is  from  one  who  has  authority 
to  speak:  ''  If  deep  repentance,  earnest  faith,  and 
burning  love ;  if  complete  self-sacrifice  is  a  cheer- 
ful surrender  of  all  that  men  hold  dear  in  life ;  if  a 
fearless  confession  of  Christ  at  any  cost  be  marks 
of  genuine  conversion,  then  has  the  Church  of 
India  multitudes  of  confessors  within  her  pale  dis- 
tinguished by  these  marks." 

And  like  strong  witness  is  given  in  a  report  of 
the  Darjeehng  Mission:  .  .  .  *^  If  the  inevitable 
cross  of  baptism  and  discipleship,  involving  not 
unfrequently  the  loss  of  all  the  natural  man  counts 
dear,  and  involving  always  the  surrender  of  cher- 
ished evil  habits— if  favorable  comparison  with  the 
best  Churches  of  Christendom,  in  respect  of  quot- 
able instances  of  pious  lives  and  pious  deaths,  the 
proportion  of  enrolled  communicants  and  active 
workers'  attendance  on  ordinances,  zeal  for  edu- 
cation, Christian  liberality,  mutual  benevolence, 
freedom  from  vice  and  crime — if  all  this  is  any  test 
of  sincerity,  they  are  preeminently  sincere,  and 
we  may  rest  reasonably  satisfied  regarding  them." 

But  our  purpose  is  not  to  ascertain  the  observa- 
tions of  others  upon  the  Christian  character  of 
mission  converts;  we  are  to  hsten  to  their  own 
statements  as  to  the  power  of  the  gospel  in  their 


92  MODERN  MISSIONS. 

hearts  and  lives.  The  experiences  to  be  related 
and  the  characters  rapidly  sketched  are  only  a 
few  of  many  that  might  be  given  from  the  vast  vol- 
ume of  testimony  at  command;  but  these  show 
how  unsatisfactory  are  all  the  false  faiths  of  the 
world,  and  are  a  triumphant  vindication  of  Chris- 
tianity's perfect  adaptation  to  all  classes  of  mind, 
all  stages  of  civilization,  and  all  conditions  of  hu- 
manity. The  characters  are  introduced  without 
reference  to  chronology  or  country. 
Joseph  Neesima. 

Joseph  Neesima,  the  first  native  apostle  of  Japan, 
would  rank  as  a  remarkable  man  of  highest  culture 
in  the  most  golden  age.  We  wonder  that  an  in- 
heritor of  centuries  of  superstition  and  idolatry 
could  not  only  have  such  clear  spiritual  apprehen- 
sion of  Christian  truth,  but  should  have  so  thor- 
oughly mastered  its  theology,  and  expounded  it 
with  such  critical  scholarship.  His  character  was 
as  symmetrical  as  his  gifts  were  remarkable.  In 
him  **  reason  and  religion  ran  together  like  warp 
and  woof  to  weave  the  web  of  a  holy  life.*' 

Born  of  honorable  parents,  in  the  home  of  a 
prince,  to  whom  his  father  was  secretary,  he  was 
just  ten  years  old  when  Commodore  Perry  an- 
chored his  flagship  in  the  Bay  of  Yeddo.  Early 
taught  to  worship  the  family  gods  on  the  shelf?  and 


PORTABLE  EVIDENCES.  93 

made  acquainted  with  the  Confucian  classics,  he 
was  a  Shintoist  of  the  straitest  sect.  But  a  copy 
of  a  Chinese  Bible  which  he  chanced  to  see  one 
day  at  the  home  of  a  friend  opened  wide  the  in- 
quiring mind  of  the  brilliant  youth.  He  ceased  to 
worship  idols.  From  the  conception  of  God  as 
Creator,  he  soon  recognized  him  as  his  Heavenly 
Father,  and  then,  said  he,  '*I  discovered  for  the 
first  time  that  the  doctrines  of  Confucius  on  the 
filial  relation  were  too  narrow  and  fallacious." 
So  from  the  religious  and  social  systems  of  his 
country,  though  it  cost  the  sacrifice  of  home  and 
friends  for  years,  he  broke  away,  because  they 
failed  to  satisfy  the  quest  of  his  mind  and  the  hun- 
ger of  his  soul. 

By  a  chain  of  strange  providences  he  came  to 
America,  under  the  patronage  of  Mr.  Joseph  Har- 
dy, of  Boston;  was  educated  at  Amherst  and  An- 
dover,  became  a  devout  Christian,  and  returned  to 
his  native  land  to  found  a  Christian  university  and 
be  to  Japan  a  second  St.  Paul.  The  text  most 
frequently  quoted  in  his  journal  was,  '*  For  God 
so  loved  the  world  that  he  gave  his  only  begotten 
Son,  that  whosoever  believeth  in  him  should  not 
perish,  but  have  everlasting  life,"  of  which  in 
later  years  he  said:  '*  This  verse  is  the  sun  among 
all  the  stars  which  shine  upon  the  pages  of  God's 


94  MODERN  MISSIONS. 

holy  Word."  On  the  opposite  page  in  his  journal 
is  this  prayer:  '*  O  Lord,  wash  away  my  sins,  take 
up  my  evil  heart,  and  give  me  the  right  spirit  to 
understand  and  remember  thy  holy  Word  more 
and  more.  O  God,  wilt  thou  help  me  to  destroy 
many  gods  and  idols?  Please  destroy  them  with 
thy  power,  and  let  me' be  comforted,"  etc. 

He  was  asked  by  the  Japanese  Minister  at  Wash- 
ington to  return  to  Japan  and  establish  schools 
there  after  the  American  system.  Of  that  visit  and 
request  of  the  high  official  he  thus  wrote:  '*  When 
I  saw  the  Japanese  Minister  at  Amherst  I  told  him 
that  I  would  not  go  home  concealing  my  Christian 
faith  like  a  trembling  thief  goes  in  the  dark  night 
under  the  fear  of  discovery,  but  go  there  as  a  Chris- 
tian man,  walking  in  Christian  love,  and  doing 
things  according  to  the  light  of  my  conscience." 

When  about  ready  to  return  to  his  native  land 
and  aid  in  its  evangelization,  his  eager  soul  caught 
a  glimpse  of  the  open  field,  and  he  cried  out:  **  I 
feel  that  my  active  battlefield  has  come  within  my 
sight.  I  am  ready  to  march  forward,  not  asking 
whether  my  powder  is  dried  or  not,  but  trusting 
simply  and  believing  only  that  the  Lord  of  hosts 
will  help  me  to  do  my  duty."  Again,  in  language 
almost  equal  to  the  sublime  declaration  of  Moses, 
ne    said:   ''I  would   rather   preach   or  teach   the 


PORTABLE  EVIDENCES.  95 

truth  which  is  in  Christ  Jesus  with  the  bread  of 
affliction  than  to  do  other  things  with  the  earthly 
luxuries,  pleasures,  and  honors." 

On  his  return  he  was  the  divinely  commissioned 
instrument  of  his  aged  father's  clear  conversion  to 
Christianity,  and  of  turning  a  heathen  house  into 
a  Christian  home.  He  founded  a  great  university 
at  Kioto  and  gave  it  the  suggestive  name  of  "  Do- 
shisha,"  meaning  ''One  Purpose  or  One  Endeavor 
Company. ''  Within  those  walls  he  saw  over  nine 
hundred  fine  young  men  gathered,  breathing  a 
wholesome  Christian  atmosphere,  and  receiving 
the  impress  of  his  own  sanctified  genius.  He 
was  in  labors  most  abundant.  His  quenchless 
zeal  consumed  his  frail  body.  Divine  impatience 
for  the  redemption  of  his  people  exhausted  his  vi- 
tal energies.  In  an  appeal  for  help  to  extend  his 
work,  he  thus  wrote  between  his  tears:  ''  My  heart 
is  constantly  burning  like  a  volcanic  fire  for  my 
dearly  beloved  Japan.  Pray  for  me,  that  I  may 
rest  in  the  Lord." 

In  an  impassioned  argument  in  favor  of  a  quick- 
ened step  and  a  grand  forward  movement,  he  flung 
out  these  words,  that  ring  like  the  notes  of  a  bugle, 
and  ought  to  be  the  lofty  motto  of  every  Christian 
soldier:  '*  We  must  advance  on  our  knees." 
And  in  the   midst  of  busy  planning,  the  maps  of 


96  MODERN  MISSIONS. 

all  the  provinces  spread  out  before  him,  he  fell 
asleep,  with  these  words  trembling  from  his  lips: 
*' Peace,  joy,  heaven."  The  story  of  that  great 
scholar,  educator,  statesman,  saint,  and  apostle  is 
one  of  the  most  brilliant  in  all  the  annals  of  spir- 
itual chivalry.  If  Christianity  can  lift  one  Japa- 
nese from  the  cheerlessness  of  Shintoism  and  the 
frigid  philosophy  of  Confucianism  into  the  dignity 
and  glory  of  such  a  character,  why  can  it  not  save 
the  whole  nation,  making  each  subject  of  the  Mi- 
kado a  citizen  of  the  kingdom  of  Christ?  It  can — 
and  it  will. 

Joel  Bulu's  Experience. 
This  man,  a  native  of  the  Friendly  Islands,  and 
brought  to  a  knowledge  of  Christ  through  the 
agency  of  the  Wesleyan  missionaries,  was  for  forty 
years  a  consistent  Christian  and  a  tireless  mission- 
ary among  the  Fijians.  For  clearness  of  spiritual 
apprehension  and  the  joyousness  of  a  conscious 
salvation  through  faith  in  Christ,  his  experience  is 
above  the  average  in  the  Church  at  home.  This 
is  his  own  statement,  translated  by  a  missionar}^: 

I  was  born  in  Vavan  in  the  heathen  days,  nor  was  it  till  I 
was  a  big  lad  that  the  lotu  [their  word  for  the  "  new  religion  "] 
came  to  our  land.  When  I  heard  the  report  of  it  I  was  full  of 
anger,  and  mj  soul  burned  with  hatred  against  it.  "And  shall 
our  gods  be  forsaken?"  I  cried  in  great  wrath.     "As  for  me,  I 


PORTABLE  EVIDENCES.  97 

will  never  forsake  them."  One  day  I  heard  a  man  talking  of 
the  lotu,  who  said  that  it  promised  a  land  of  the  dead  different 
from  the  bulotu  of  which  our  fathers  spoke,  even  a  home  in  the 
sky  for  the  good,  where  evil  men  were  cast  into  a  dreadful 
place,  wherein  there  burned  a  fire  which  none  could  quench. 
On  that  very  night  I  went  forth  with  the  lads  of  the  town— it 
was  a  fine  night — and,  looking  up  to  the  heavens  where  the 
stars  were  shining,  this  thought  suddenly  smote  me,  "O  the 
beautiful  land!  If  the  words  be  true  which  were  told  us  to- 
day, then  are  these  lotu  people  happy  indeed;"  and  my  soul 
longed  with  a  great  longing  to  reach  that  beautiful  land.  I 
could  not  rest,  so  I  went  to  another  town,  where  dwelt  a 
Christian  chief,  to  tell  him  that  I  wished  to  lotu.  "  Good  is 
your  coming,"  cried  the  chief,  and  great  was  his  joy.  "  But 
why  do  you  want  to  lotiif'  "I  have  heard,"  was  my  reply, 
"of  the  good  land  whither  you  go  after  death;  therefore  do 
I  wish  to  lotu,  that  I  also  may  be  a  dweller  in  the  sky."  So 
they  prayed  over  me,  and  thus  it  was  that  I  turned  to  Chris- 
tianity ;  but  of  its  meaning  I  knew  nothing.  Then  came  Mr. 
Thomas  to  Vavan,  and,  standing  under  a  tree  in  the  public 
square,  he  preached  to  us  from  the  parable  of  the  tares  among 
the  wheat.  It  was  this  sermon  that  pierced  my  soul;  for  I  had 
thought  that  I  was  one  of  the  wheat,  but  now  I  found  that  I 
was  among  the  tares.  As  I  heard  I  wept  and  trembled,  for  I 
thought:  "  I  shall  never  see  the  good  land."  When  the  sermon 
was  over  and  the  people  rose  to  go  I  sat  in  my  place  quaking 
for  fear  and  weeping  in  great  anguish,  for  all  the  strength  had 
gone  out  of  my  body.  "  What  is  the  matter  with  you  ?  "  they 
asked.  "Pray  for  me,  pray  for  me,  I  beseech  you! "  So  they 
knelt  down  and  prayed  for  me,  first  one  and  then  another,  till 
they  were  tired,  but  I  found  no  comfort.  So  I  rose,  and,  going 
into  an  empty  outhouse,  I  knelt  down  there  by  myself,  weeping 
and  praying  before  the  Lord,  for  now  I  felt  that  I  was  a  sinner; 
7 


98  MODERN   MISSIONS. 

the  wrath  of  God  laj  heavy  upon  my  soul,  and  I  hated  myself 
because  of  my  evil  ways.  "  O  what  is  that  repentance  where- 
of the  preacher  told  us?"  I  cried;  "Lord,  let  me  find  it,  that 
I  may  live!  "  for  so  dark  was  my  mind  that  I  did  not  know  that 
this  sorrow  and  fear  of  mine  were  marks  of  repentance.  Thus 
I  continued  a  long  while  seeking  the  Lord  in  prayer  with  many 
tears. 

At  last  there  came  a  day,  in  1834,  when  the  missionaries  (of 
whom  Mr,  Turner  was  one)  assembled  us  together  to  hold  a 
love  feast;  and  when  we  had  sung  a  hymn  and  prayed,  then 
Mr.  Turner  stood  up  to  declare  the  work  of  God  in  his  soul. 
My  heart  burned  within  me  as  I  listened  to  his  words,  for  in 
speaking  of  himself  he  told  all  that  I  had  felt,  and  I  said  to  my- 
self: "We  are  like  two  canoes  sailing  bow  and  bow,  neither 
being  swifter  nor  slower  than  the  other."  Thus  it  was  with  me 
when  he  told  of  his  repentance;  but  when  he  went  on  to  speak 
of  his  faith  in  Christ,  the  forgiveness  of  his  sins,  and  the  peace 
and  joy  which  he  had  in  believing,  then  said  I:  "My  mast  is 
broken,  my  sail  is  blown  away  ;  he  is  gone  clear  out  of  my  sight, 
and  I  am  left  here  drifting  helplessly  over  the  waves."  But  while 
I  listened  eagerly  to  his  words,  telling  of  the  love  of  Christ  to 
him,  my  eyes  were  opened;  I  saw  the  way,  and  I,  even  I,  also 
believed  and  lived.  I  was  like  a  man  fleeing  for  his  life  from 
an  enemy  behind  him,  and  groping  along  the  wall  of  a  house 
in  the  dark  to  find  the  door  that  he  may  enter  in  and  escape, 
when  lo!  a  door  is  suddenly  opened  before  his  face,  and  straight- 
way, with  one  bound,  he  leaps  within.  Thus  it  was  to  me  as  I 
listened  to  the  words  of  Mr.  Turner;  my  heart  was  full  of  joy 
and  love,  and  the  tears  streamed  down  my  cheeks.  Often  had 
I  wept  before,  but  not  like  my  former  weeping  were  the  tears 
which  I  now  shed.  Then  I  wept  out  of  sorrow  and  fear,  but 
now  for  very  joy  and  gladness,  and  because  my  heart  was  full 
of  love  to  Him  who  had  loved  me  and  given  himself  for  me; 


PORTABLE   EVIDENCES. 


99 


and  Mr.  Turner,  seeing  the  tears  raining  heavily  down  from 
my  eyes,  called  upon  me  to  speak.  "  Stand  up,  Joel,"  said  he, 
"  and  tell  us  how  it  is  with  you."  So  I  stood  up;  but  it  seemed 
to  me  as  if  my  soul  were  parted  from  my  body,  and  I  remem- 
bered nothing  more  until  I  found  myself  lying  on  the  mat,  and 
the  missionaries  weeping  over  me,  and  saying :  "  What  is  this  ?  " 
"  I  live,"  said  I,  "  I  live.  Let  me  rise,  that  I  may  declare  the 
mercies  of  God."  And  even  while  I  spoke  there  arose  a  great 
cry  in  our  midst,  and  a  burst  of  weeping,  for  the  hearts  of  all 
were  strangely  moved.  O  what  a  day  was  that!  Never  can  I 
forget  it.    The  prayers,  the  praises,  and  the  tears  of  joy!  " 

Africaner. 
The  name  of  Robert  Moffat  is  indissolubly  con- 
nected with  Africaner,  the  first  convert  of  his  min- 
istry, once  a  bloodthirsty  chief  of  a  cruel  tribe, 
and  then  one  of  the  humblest  and  gentlest  follow- 
ers of  the  meek  and  lowly  Man  of  Galilee.  The 
miracle  of  grace  that  converted  this  wild  Nam- 
aqua  warrior  into  a  Christian  brother  and  hero 
was  in  all  respects  equal  to  that  which  transformed 
the  persecuting  Saul  of  Tarsus  into  Paul,  the 
greatest  of  the  apostles.  Ferocious  even  to  wolf- 
ishness,  and  rapacious  almost  beyond  comparison, 
he  was  a  tyrant  and  a  terror.  His  name  was  the 
synonym  of  all  that  was  cruel  and  terrible.  Neigh- 
boring chiefs  and  their  tribes  fled  affrighted  at  the 
very  report  of  his  coming.  But  under  the  minis- 
try of  Robert  Moffat  this  monster  of  cruelty  be- 
came the  gentlest  of  brothers.     His  heart  opened 


lOO  MODERN  MISSIONS. 

to  the  truth,  Christ  was  apprehended  by  faith,  the 
pardoning  voice  of  God  was  heard,  and  a  new 
song  was  put  into  his  mouth.  Through  the  cen- 
turies this  story  of  Africaner's  marvelous  trans- 
formation will  linger  in  'all  South  Africa  as  a  me- 
morial and  a  testimony.  Of  him,  as  of  Saul  of 
Tarsus,  it  might  be  said:  "  There  fell  from  his 
eyes  as  it  had  been  scales;  and  he  received  sight 
forthwith,  and  arose,  and  was  baptized."  And  as 
the  brethren  at  Jerusalem,  on  Saul's  first  return, 
"  were  all  afraid  of  him,  and  believed  not  that  he 
was  a  disciple,"  so  the  Dutch  farmers  and  others 
at  first  refused  to  believe  that  Africaner  could  be- 
come a  Christian;  but  when  they  saw  and  heard 
him,  lifted  high  their  hands  and  exclaimed:  "  This 
is  the  eighth  wonder  of  the  world !  Great  God, 
what  a  miracle  of  thy  power  and  grace!  "  His 
entire  after  life  was  in  perfect  accord  with  this 
transforming  experience  of  the  Spirit.  His  feroc- 
ity was  turned  into  spiritual  fervor,  and  his  ra- 
pacity into  a  consuming  zeal  ''for  God  and  his 
missionary."  He  became  Moffat's  protector  and 
provider.  He  built  him  a  house,  provided  other 
comforts,  was  his  watchful  and  tender  nurse  in  a 
critical  illness,  and  accompanied  him  with  a  body- 
guard on  a  visit  to  Cape  Town  when  he  had  reason 
to  fear  that  the  brave  missionary's  life  might  be  in 


PORTABLE  EVIDENCES.  lOI 

peril.  In  the  home  land  there  was  never  a  more 
devout  worshiper  in  the  sanctuary  or  a  more  ea- 
ger and  prayerful  student  of  God's  word. 

When  he  discovered  that  his  health  was  failing, 
and  apprehended  that  the  end  was  not  far  off,  he 
gathered  his  chief  men  about  him  and  delivered  a 
solemn  charge.  He  said:  **  We  are  not  now  what 
we  once  were — savages — but  men  professing  to  be 
taught  according  to  the  gospel.  Let  us  then  do 
accordingly."  Then  he  counseled  them  with  great 
tenderness  to  be  peaceful,  brotherly,  united,  de- 
voted to  God,  and  ever  to  extend  the  largest  hos- 
pitality to  all  Christian  missionaries. 

It  has  been  said  of  this,  his  dying  confession, 
that  it  '*  would  have  graced  the  lips  of  the  Apos- 
tle of  the  Gentiles:  "  *'  I  feel  that  I  love  God,  and 
that  he  has  done  much  for  me  of  which  I  am  to- 
tally unworthy.  My  former  life  is  stained  with 
blood;  but  Jesus  Christ  has  bought  my  pardon, 
and  I  am  going  to  heaven.  Beware  of  falling  into 
the  same  evils  into  which  I  have  so  often  led  you ; 
but  seek  God,  and  he  will  be  found  of  you  and 
direct  you."  Having  thus  finished  his  course, 
Africaner  fell  asleep,  leaving  an  imperishable  me- 
morial of  the  power  of  God  unto  salvation. 


102  modern  missions. 

Ling  Ching  Ting,  the  Converted  Opium 

Smoker. 
This  man,  at  forty  years  of  age,  strayed  into  a 
street  chapel  at  Ato,  a  suburb  of  Foochow,  in 
1863,  and  heard  a  sermon  by  Rev.  S.  L.  Brink- 
ley.  He  listened  with  close  attention,  and  lingered 
after  service  to  talk  with  the  missionary.  "  Did 
you  say  that  Jesus  (I  never  heard  of  him  before; 
I  don't  know  who  he  is);  but  did  you  say  that 
he  can  save  me  from  m}^  sins?"  "Yes,"  re- 
plied the  missionary,  "that  is  just  what  I  said." 
"But,"  the  Chinaman  responded,  "you  didn't 
know  me  when  you  said  that;  you  didn't  know 
that  I  had  been  a  gambler  and  sorcerer  for  many 
years;  you  didn't  know  that  I  had  been  a  licen- 
tious man;  you  didn't  know  that  I  had  been  an 
opium  smoker  for  twenty  years,  and  ever}^  one 
knows  that  a  man  who  has  smoked  opium  for  that 
length  of  time  can  never  be  cured  of  the  habit. 
If  you  had  known  all  this,  you  wouldn't  have 
said  that  Jesus  can  save  me  from  all  my  sins — 
would  you?"  "Yes,"  replied  the  missionary, 
"I  would  have  said  just  what  I  did;  and  I  tell 
you  now  that  Jesus  can  save  you  from  all  your 
sins." 

He  was  deeply  perplexed.     He  went  away  and 
returned  next  day,  and  from  day  to  day  came  to 


PORTABLE   EVIDENCE'S.  IO3 

examine  proofs  of  Christianity,  bringing  his  ob- 
jections to  be  answered.  But  one  day  he  came 
with  radiant  countenance,  and  exclaimed:  "I 
know  it !  I  know  it !  I  know  that  Jesus  can  save 
me  from  my  sins,  for  he  has  done  it." 

He  conquered  the  opium  habit,  and  became  an 
earnest  evangelist.  His  words  were  with  power. 
He  went  to  Hok-Chiang  to  preach,  when  at  length 
he  was  arrested  on  false  charges,  brought  before 
a  corrupt  district  magistrate,  and  sentenced  to  be 
beaten  with  two  thousand  stripes.  The  cruel  sen- 
tence was  executed  with  bamboo  on  his  bare  back. 
He  was  carried  to  the  mission  premises  in  Foochow, 
more  dead  than  alive.  When  the  missionar}^  came 
into  his  room  he  said:  *'  Teacher,  this  poor  body 
is  in  great  pain  just  now;  but  my  inside  heart 
has  great  peace.  Jesus  is  with  me;  and  I  think 
perhaps  he  will  take  me  to  heaven,  and  I  will  be 
glad  to  go."  Then  the  old  fire  began  to  flash  in 
his  eyes,  and,  raising  himself  a  little,  he  added: 
*'  But  if  I  get  up  from  this,  you'll  let  me  go  back 
to  Hok-Chiang,  won't  you?  " 

After  a  long  time  he  recovered  and  resumed  his 
evangelistic  work  with  consuming  zeal.  For  four- 
teen years  he  was  in  labors  most  abundant,  lived 
a  blameless  life,  endured  persecution,  and  died  in 
triumph. 


I04  MODERN  MISSIONS. 

Hok-Chiang,  where  he  was  so  cruelly  treated, 
became  a  fruitful  field.  In  1890  there  were  sev- 
en hundred  members,  five  hundred  probationers, 
and  over  fifteen  hundred  adherents.  Thus  the 
works  of  the  brave  evangelist  do  follow  him.  The 
converted  Buddhist  became  a  flaming  apostle. 

A  Japanese  Judge. 
Among  the  members  of  the  East  Osaka  Meth- 
odist Church  is  a  judge  of  the  Appeal  Court,  who 
for  many  3^ears  has  occupied  high  judicial  position. 
He  is  an  earnest  Christian,  and  recently  has  be- 
come so  burdened  in  spirit  for  the  evangelization 
of  his  native  land  as  to  tender  his  resignation  as  a 
judge,  that  he  may  devote  himself,  at  his  own 
charges,  to  the  salvation  of  his  people.  The  let- 
ter, addressed  to  his  pastor,  Rev.  W.  E.  Towson, 
announcing  his  purpose,  has  just  been  made  pub- 
lic. It  indicates  the  Pauline  spirit.  A  few  ex- 
tracts are  here  given  : 

I  Avas  baptized  and  converted  to  Christianity  in  1890;  and 
now,  as  I  look  over  our  country,  strong  impressions  come  to 
my  heart.  Our  country  is  zealously  adopting  Western  civiliza- 
tion from  about  thirty  years  ago,  such  as  railway,  telegraph, 
medical  science,  law,  military,  navy,  politics,  etc.  We  are  very 
happy  to  live  at  this  day,  but  I  regret  that  the  people  do  not 
come  to  the  light  of  Christ,  except  some  few  persons.  Evan- 
gelization is  very  necessary  for  Japan.  Judge  is  worldly  work, 
and  there  are  very  many  candidates;  but  evangelist  is  religious 


PORTABLE  EVIDENCES.  I05 

service,  and  there  are  very  few  candidates.  I  think  I  can  be 
more  useful  to  our  country  to  work  as  an  evangelist  than  to 
serve  as  a  judge,  and  it  is  with  rejoicing  that  I  have  resolved 
to  do  so  after  serious  consideration. 

1.  I  believe  that  the  Lord  has  chosen  me  to  do  some  work 
for  the  evangelization  of  Japan. 

2.  I  intend  to  work  as  a  free  evangelist  and  to  preach  the 
gospel  in  a  self-supporting  way. 

3.  I  have  served  as  a  judge  for  fifteen  full  years,  and  so  am 
due  a  small  pension,  which  will  barely  support  my  family. 

4.  When  I  need  more  money  than  my  pension  I  will  work 
as  a  lawyer. 

5.  A  judge  is  not  allowed  to  preach  in  public,  but  a  lawyer 
can  do  so. 

6.  I  think  that  one  can  change  his  profession  when  he  has 
full  conviction  that  he  is  called  to  a  higher  work.  Many  of 
the  Lord's  disciples  have  left  their  profession  to  work  for  Jesus. 
I  feel  as  Paul  did :  "  Woe  is  unto  me,  if  I  preach  not  the  gospel." 

First  Native  Bishop  of  the  Niger,  Samuel 
Adjai  Crowther. 
One  of  the  miracles  of  Missions,  and  one  of  the 
most  remarkable  of  **  living  epistles" — was  Sam- 
uel Adjai  Crowther,  the  first  native  Bishop  of  the 
Niger.  Born  in  1808,  converted  at  the  age  of 
seventeen,  and  thence  to  the  end  of  his  da3^s  a 
blameless  and  fearless  apostle  of  Christ,  he  illus- 
trated as  have  few  men  the  wonder-working  power 
of  divine  grace.  At  twelve  years  of  age  Moham- 
medan marauders  overran  his  country,  killed  his 
father,  and  carried  the  boy  into  slavery.     He  was 


Io6  MODERN  MISSIONS. 

traded  for  a  horse,  separated  from  his  mother,  and 
taken  to  the  coast,  where  the  Portuguese  had  an- 
chored their  slave  ships.  With  one  hundred  and 
eighty-six  others  he  was  crowded  into  the  hold  of 
a  vessel,  and  started  westward ;  but  the  slave  ship 
was  given  chase  by  two  English  men-of-war  and 
captured,  and  the  human  beings  in  irons  were  land- 
ed at  Sierra  Leone.  Here  the  slave  boy,  Adjai,  was 
taken  to  a  mission  school,  and  there  he  was  joy- 
ously converted  to  God  and  baptized  as  Samuel 
Crowther.  He  became  first  a  pupil,  then  a  teacher, 
in  Yoruba  Bay  College.  He  translated  the  Scrip- 
tures into  the  Yoruba  dialect,  prepared  a  diction- 
ary of  the  Yoruba  tongue,  besides  many  other 
books. 

On  his  several  visits  to  England  he  pleaded  the 
cause  of  African  missions,  in  Exeter  Hall  and 
elsewhere,  with  persuasive  and  powerful  elo- 
quence. 

He  was  the  first  native  ordained  preacher  in  that 
valley,  and  it  is  a  singular  and  pathetic  coincidence 
that  the  first  convert  of  his  ministry  was  his  own 
mother.  His  ministry  was  wonderfully  blessed  of 
the  Holy  Spirit.  He  preached  with  great  power, 
was  untiring  in  toil,  and  saw  multitudes  brought 
to  Christ.  Mission  stations  were  established,  the 
slave  trade  w^as  arrested  and  finally  destroyed,  and 


PORTABLE   EVIDENCES.  107 

the  moral  and  social  life  of  the  people  almost  en- 
tirely reconstructed. 

In  1864,  with  solemn  and  impressive  ceremony, 
he  was  ordained  the  first  Bishop  of  the  Niger. 
Thus,  under  the  providence  of  God,  the  poor  slave 
boy  was  made  the  most  distinguished  guide  and 
leader  of  his  people  into  a  higher  and  nobler  life. 

Shemmas  Meekha,  of  Mosul. 

This  remarkable  man  lived  on  the  western  coast 
of  Asia,  and  was  born  in  1816.  In  1828  a  plague 
swept  over  Mosul,  and  carried  off  forty  thousand 
persons.  Among  the  victims  was  a  millwright, 
the  father  of  Meekha. 

The  meditative  youth  early  became  burdened  in 
spirit,  and  sought  comfort  and  counsel  from  the 
priest  of  his  heathen  faith.  He  studied  Syriac, 
that  lie  might  read  books  and  investigate  for  him- 
self. In  the  providence  of  God  the  Rev.  Joseph 
Mathew,  an  evangelical  graduate  of  the  college 
at  Catta3^am,  in  Southern  India,  came  to  Mosul. 
Meekha  soon  formed  his  acquaintance,  and  for 
him  he  had  a  strong  attachment.  He  was  em- 
ployed as  the  Arabic  teacher  of  Rev.  A.  K.  Hins- 
dale, from  whom  he  in  turn  learned  Enghsh,  and, 
best  of  all,  a  knowledge  of  the  true  God. 

One  Sabbath,  while  conversing  with  his  teacher 


Io8  MODERN  MISSIONS. 

in  an  **  upper  room  "  on  redemption  through 
Christ,  he  drew  near,  and  said  eagerly:  **  Do 
come  with  me  and  repeat  these  good  words  to  my 
people,  and  I  will  interpret  them,  for  they  never 
heard  truth  like  that."  His  heart  was  not  only 
filled  with  the  peace  of  God,  but  with  an  intense 
concern  for  the  salvation  of  his  people. 

While  working  at  the  trade  of  his  father  he  be- 
came a  teacher  and  lay  preacher,  but  never  felt 
called  to  the  full  functions  of  a  minister.  Through 
his  influence  largely  the  truth  was  so  deeply  rooted 
in  Mosul  that  no  subsequent  persecutions  could 
displace  it.  He  was  a  Christian  of  almost  perfect 
consecration.  Two  of  the  choice  hymns  in  the 
Arabic  hymn  book  used  by  the  S3a-ian  Mission 
were  from  his  pen,  and  he  left  an  unfinished 
Syriac  manuscript  translation  of  *' Pilgrim's  Prog- 
ress." 

In  writing  to  a  missionary  friend  he  says: 
"Pray  that  God  will  keep  me  from  sloth,  and 
make  me  perfect  in  his  service.  I  long  to  impart 
to  others  that  knowledge  of  an  atoning  Saviour 
which  God  has  given  me.  How  can  I  describe 
the  greatness  of  my  obligation  for  this  grace?  I 
grieve  to  see  so  many  without  Christ.  Pray  that 
I  ma}^  have  grace  to  instruct  them  to  believe;  and 
yet,  should  I  bring  the  whole  world  to  him,  that 


PORTABLE   EVIDENCES.  IO9 

would  be  the  work  of  his  power  and  grace,  not 
mine." 

In  another  letter  he  said:  "I  think  I  know 
something  of  that  sweet  word  of  John,  '  There  is  no 
fear  in  love;  '  and  I  know  that  nothing  can  sepa- 
rate me  from  his  love.  I  try  to  lead  men  to  Christ. 
Some  approve  my  words,  but  yield  no  fruit;  yet 
I  hope  that  if  the  grain  of  wheat  fall  into  the  ground 
and  die  it  will  not  remain  alone." 

He  peacefully  fell  asleep  June  14,  1S81.  So 
highly  was  he  esteemed  and  so  profoundly  revered 
that  the  Christians  had  him  buried  inside  the 
church,  "  that  they  might  be  constantly  reminded 
of  the  gospel  he  taught  them  while  alive." 

We  have  had  his  own  statement  of  his  inner 
spiritual  life ;  now  let  us  look  at  his  outward  con- 
duct, as  seen  by  others.  His  high  Christian  char- 
acter commands  not  only  respect,  but  admiration. 
Dr.  Marsh,  of  the  Assyrian  Mission,  said  of  him: 
"  His  mind  was  clear,  with  splendid  acuteness  and 
strength,  and  was  very  receptive  of  truth.  He  was 
a  thinker  rather  than  an  actor ;  but  by  unswerving 
probity  among  a  dishonest -people,  Christlike  gen- 
tleness among  violent  men,  and  steadfast  loyalty  to 
Christ  and  truth,  he  bore  testimony  for  God." 

The  memory  of  this  saintly  man's  consistent 
piety  abides  as  an  inspiration. 


no  MODERN  MISSIONS. 

A  Remarkable  Experience. 

Here  is  another  expression  of  the  Spirit's  power 
in  the  heart  of  a  recent  barbarian,  restraining  his 
passion  for  blood  and  revenge.  Few  more  un- 
mistakable and  remarkable  triumphs  of  grace  are 
recorded  in  the  memorahilia  of  the  Christian 
Church.     It  comes  to  us  from  the  South  Seas. 

When  the  Rev.  Mr.  Taylor,  a  missionary  in 
New  Zealand,  was  about  to  return  to  England, 
some  years  ago,  he  held  a  farewell  service,  con- 
cluding with  the  communion  of  the  Lord's  Supper. 
When  the  first  communicants  were  kneeling  around 
the  chancel,  one  man  arose  suddenly,  and  in  great 
agitation  returned  to  his  seat.  After  some  time  he 
recovered  composure,  and  went  again  to  the  altar, 
and  partook  of  the  holy  sacrament.  When  after- 
wards interrogated  by  the  missionary  as  to  his 
strange  conduct,  he  made  answer  as  follows: 
''  When  I  approached  the  table  I  did  not  know 
beside  whom  I  should  have  to  kneel.  Then  I  sud- 
denly saw  that  I  was  beside  the  man  who,  some 
years  ago,  slew  my  father  and  drank  his  blood, 
and  whom  I  then  sw^ore  I  w^ould  kill  the  first  time 
that  I  should  see  him.  Now  think  what  I  felt 
when  1  suddenly  knelt  beside  him.  It  came  upon 
me  with  terrible  power,  and  I  could  not  prevent  it, 
so  I  went  back  to  my  seat.     Arrived  there,  I  saw, 


PORTABLE   EVIDENCES.  Ill 

in  the  spirit,  the  upper  sanctuary,  and  seemed  to 
hear  a  voice:  *  Thereby  shall  all  men  know  that 
ye  are  my  disciples,  if  ye  have  love  one  to  anoth- 
er.' That  made  a  deep  impression  upon  m^,  and 
at  the  same  time  I  thought  I  saw  another  sight — a 
cross  and  a  man  nailed  thereon — and  I  heard  him 
say:  "  Father,  forgive  them;  they  know  not  what 
they  do.'  Then  I  went  back  to  the  altar." 
Namakei,  the  Old  Chief  of  Aniwa. 

The  first  trophy  of  Dr.  John  G.  Paton's  ministry 
in  the  New  Hebrides  was  Namakei,  the  old  chief 
of  Aniwa.  In  early  life  he  was  a  cannibal  and  a 
great  warrior ;  but  under  the  teaching  and  preach- 
ing of  Dr.  Paton  he  at  length  became  an  earnest 
Christian,  and  for  many  years  was  the  powerful 
defender  of  the  great  missionary,  and  aided  not  a 
little  in  the  rapid  extension  of  the  work.  Dr.  Pa- 
ton  says:  *'  Slowly  but  very  steadily  the  light  of 
the  gospel  broke  in  upon  his  soul,  and  he  was  ever 
very  eager  to  communicate  to  his  people  all  that 
he  had  learned." 

His  last  act  was  to  attend  a  Synod  on  the  neigh- 
boring island  of  Aneityum,  and  there  he  passed 
away  to  the  better  land.  So  enraptured  was  the 
old  chief  with  the  religious  fervor  of  the  meeting, 
and  the  reported  progress  of  the  work,  as  one 
island  after  another  was  given  in  as  having  been 


112  MODERN  MISSIONS. 

won  to  Christ,   that  he  cried  out:    *' I  am  lifting 
up  my  head  hke  a  tree.      I  am  growing  tall  with 

joy!" 

When  prostrated  with  what  he  feared  was  a  fa- 
tal illness  he  sent  for  Dr.  Paton,  and  said:  **  Mis- 
si,  I  am  near  to  die.  I  have  asked  you  to  come 
and  say  farewell.  Tell  my  daughter,  my  brother, 
and  my  people  to  go  on  pleasing  Jesus,  and  I  will 
meet  them  again  in  the  fair  world." 

When  assisted  to  a  cool  place  under  the  shade 
of  a  banyan  tree,  he  said  again  to  Dr.  Paton:  "  I 
am  going !  O  Missi,  let  me  hear  your  words  rising 
up  in  prayer,  and  then  my  soul  will  be  strong  to 
go."  As  the  great  missionary  knelt  by  him,  the 
old  saint  grasped  the  hand  of  his  teacher,  and, 
pressing  it  to  his  heart,  said  in  a  strong,  clear 
tone:  "O  my  JVIissi,  my  dear  Missi,  I  go  before 
you,  but  I  will  meet  you  again  in  the  home  of 
Jesus.     Farewell!" 

With  these  words  he  relaxed  his  loving  grasp, 
and  sweetly  fell  on  sleep.  So  *'the  first  person 
who  ever  on  that  island  of  love  and  tears  opened 
his  heart  to  Jesus  "  entered  his  Master's  joy. 

In  the  Training  College  at  Asyat,  Egypt,  at- 
tended by  over  four  hundred  boys  and  young  men, 
nineteen    have    joined    the    Student's    Volunteer 


PORTABLE   EVIDENCES.  II3 

Movement.  Some  who  offered  themselves  for 
the  work  gave  their  reasons  for  so  doing  as  fol- 
lows: 

Christ  commanded  us  to  pi*each  the  gospel.  As  I  love  him, 
I  must  keep  his  commandments. — Abadir  Ibraheem. 

There  are  few  preachers  in  mj  country,  while  there  are  mul- 
titudes of  men  who  know  not  the  truth. — Gabra  Hanna. 

Ovir  country  is  not  small,  and  its  progress  depends  upon  its 
Christian  young  men.  Therefore  I  intend  to  help  train  the 
boys  in  Christianity,  so  that  later  they  will  work  for  their  fel- 
low-men. The  Lord's  work  is  wide  and  the  workers  few.  Our 
young  men  prefer  to  go  to  the  government  offices.  Therefore 
I  choose  to  be  a  Christian  teacher  to  educate  the  small  boys  in 
their  youth,  so  as  to  be  progressive  in  their  old  age. — Kheelay- 
lah  Masrood. 

I  feel  that  I  am  under  responsibility  because  of  the  religious 
knowledge  the  Lord  hath  given  me.  I  must  not  hide  the  light 
I  have,  lest  my  brothers  die  in  the  valley  of  darkness. — Isshak 
Ibraheem . 

He  who  knows  something  of  God,  and  does  not  inform  oth- 
ers, is  responsible  before  God. — Handa  Gabroos. 

Now,  these  several  experiences  of  persons 
widely  separated  by  race,  nationality,  civiliza- 
tion, heredity,  and  environment,  yet  all  testifying 
substantially  and  joyfully  to  the  same  things,  are 
a  conclusive  and  triumphant  vindication  of  Chris- 
tianity's claims  to  be  the  one  universal  religion. 
In  the  language  of  the  eloquent  Bishop  Alexander, 
we  may  say:  **  By  a  homage  of  such  diversity  and 
such  extent  we  recognize  a  universal  Saviour  for 


114  MODERN  MISSIONS. 

the  universal  wants  of  universal  man,  the  fitting 
Propitiation  for  the  whole  world."  Therefore, 
however  slow  its  progress  or  formidable  the  oppo- 
sition to  its  advance,  missionary  success  is  assured 
and  final  redemption  a  divine  certainty. 


LECTURE  IV, 


FRUITS  FROM  VARIOUS  FIELDS. 


IV. 

FRUITS  FROM  VARIOUS  FIELDS. 

ARE  Missions  a  failure?  is  a  question  the 
Church  is  compelled  to  answer.  There  is 
a  demand  for  results  that  must  be  respected. 
And  though  this  urgent  demand  may  indicate  an 
enfeebled  faith — an  impatience  that  will  not  wait 
upon  the  sure  and  mighty  movements  of  God — yet 
it  cannot  be  disregarded.  Though  it  may  be 
enough  for  an  enlightened  faith  that  the  Church 
is  obediently  carrying  out  the  orders  of  the  King 
of  kings,  still  there  ought  to  be  some  return  from 
the  expenditures  of  a  hundred  heroic  years. 

The  purpose  of  this  lecture  is  to  rapidly  survey 
some  of  the  great  mission  fields,  and  see  what  re- 
port they  have  to  make  to  the  Lord  of  the  harvest. 
Of  course  there  are  many  things  wrought  by  the 
gospel  that  cannot  be  tabulated,  and  are,  indeed, 
scarcely  translatable  into  human  speech.  To  esti- 
mate, for  instance,  the  amount  of  patient,  prepara- 
tory work  necessary  to  make  the  world  accessible 
to  Christianity  is  beyond  the  power  of  human 
reckoning.  But  mighty  results  have  been  wrought 
that  all  can  understand,  which  attest  the  all-con- 
quering power  of  the  Christian  religion.  To  some 
of  these  attention  will  be  called. 


Il8  MODERN  MISSIONS. 

First,  all  heathen  faiths  are  losing  their  hold 
upon  intelligent  votaries.  Under  the  silent,  per- 
sistent influence  of  the  gospel  faith  in  old,  effete 
systems  is  being  undermined,  and  new  aspirations 
are  being  enkindled,  which  are  prophetic  of  yet 
greater  results.  There  is  a  divine  discontent  with 
doctrines  and  forms  that  cease  to  satisfy.  In  In- 
dia there  is  widespread  restlessness  of  thought, 
and  a  spirit  of  eager  inquiry  has  stirred  to  the 
deptlis  the  stagnation  of  centuries.  In  a  Madras 
paper  these  lines  appeared,  as  voicing  the  cry  of 
vast  multitudes : 

We  are  weaiy  of  empty  creeds, 

Of  guides  who  show  no  man  the  way, 

Of  worship  linked  with  lust  and  shame: 

Life  is  an  ill,  the  sea  of  births  is  wide, 

And  we  are  weary — who  shall  be  our  guide? 

Sir  Monier  Williams  says  that  education  is  caus- 
ing a  *'  great  upheaving  of  old  creeds  and  supersti- 
tions throughout  India,  and  the  ancient  fortress  of 
Hindooism  is  in  this  way  being  gradually  under- 
mined. The  educated  classes  look  with  contempt 
on  idolatry.^'' 

The  Brahmo  Somaj,  the  Theistic  Society  of  In- 
dia, said  by  Max  Miiller  to  be  **the  most  momen- 
tous movement  in  this  momentous  century,"  is 
itself  an  expression  of  the  unrest  of  the  Hindoo 


^-RtJITS   FROM  VARIOUS   FIELDS.  II9 

mind.  Despairing  of  the  old  faiths,  and  not  yet 
quite  able  to  fully  accept  the  Christian  faith,  there 
is  a  pathetic  feeling  after  the  truth  if  haply  they 
may  find  it.  But  these  Brahmos  make  no  secret 
of  their  admiration  of  the  character  of  Jesus  Christ, 
and  it  is  said  that  in  the  home  of  every  member 
there  is  a  picture  of  the  Man  of  Galilee.  An  edu- 
cated Hindoo,  and  not  a  professing  Christian,  in 
delivering  an  eloquent  address  in  Bombay,  rang 
out  this  question  and  answer:  *'  What  has  started 
our  present  religious  Somajas  all  over  India? 
Contact  with  Christian  missionaries."  He  con- 
cluded his  address  with  these  words:  *' Of  one 
thing  I  am  convinced:  Do  what  we  will,  oppose  as 
we  may,  it  is  the  Christian's  Bible  that  will  sooner 
or  later  work  the  regeneration  of  this  land."  And 
Keshub  Chunder  Sen,  the  able  leader  of  the  Brah- 
mo  Somaj,  went  even  farther,  and  said:  *'You 
cannot  deny  that  your  hearts  have  been  touched, 
conquered,  and  subjugated  by  a  superior  force. 
That  power,  need  I  tell  you,  is  Christ.  It  is  Christ 
who  rules  British  India,  and  not  the  British  Gov- 
ernment." 

From  Sir  Charles  Atchison,  another  distin- 
guished authority,  we  get  this  positive  opinion: 
**  Educated  Hindoo  society  is  honeycombed  with 
unbelief,  and  the  great  question  of  the  day  in  India 


120  MODERN  MISSIONS. 

is :  '  What  shall  take  the  place  of  the  broken 
gods?'"  The  Hon.  John  W.  Foster,  a  distin- 
guished American  statesman  and  diplomat,  on  his 
return  from  the  East,  in  a  recent  missionary  ad- 
dress, testifies  to  the  same  thing  in  these  words: 
*'  During  our  sojourn  at  Calcutta  we  saw  much  of 
the  families  of  several  Hindoo  gentlemen  of  the 
Brahman  and  Rajpoot  castes,  leading  lawyers,  lit- 
erary and  wealthy  people  of  the  city,  some  of  them 
graduates  of  Cambridge,  England,  and  the  equals 
in  intelligence  and  culture  of  any  European  cir- 
cles. They  7'ecognized  the  utter  folly  and  empti- 
ness of  their  religion  as  practiced  by  the  masses.^  ^ 

Another  evidence  of  the  conquering  progress  of 
Missions  is  the  awakened  opposition  to  Christianity, 
The  days  of  ridicule  have  been  succeeded  by  wide- 
spread alarm.  They  feel  that  the  foundations  are 
giving  away.  Hoary  superstitions,  the  massive 
structures  of  weary  centuries,  are  toppling  to  ruin, 
and  the  cracking  of  falling  timbers  is  heard  round 
the  world.  With  pen  and  tongue  the  ablest  de- 
fenders of  these  false  faiths  have  enlisted  for  the 
final  struggle.  They  are  in  the  ''  throes  of  hea- 
then despair,"  and  will  not  see  Christianity  win  a 
victory  without  a  bitter  contest.  But  this  despera- 
tion of  hostility  is  confined  largely  to  the  priestly 
classes.     In  Japan  Buddhist  priests  have  taken  to 


FRUITS   FROM  VARIOUS   FIELDS.  121 

preaching  to  arrest  the  sweeping  progress  of  the 
gospel,  and  in  Kioto  a  Buddhist  theological  sem- 
inary has  been  built  and  equipped  for  the  training 
of  men  able  to  defend  their  decaying  doctrines. 
But  every  brick  in  that  building  is  a  voiceless  but 
eloquent  tribute  to  the  conquering  march  of  the 
gospel.  The  dull,  monotonous,  unintelligible  rep- 
etition of  certain  phrases  before  a  dreary  altar  by 
an  ignorant  priest  no  longer  satisfies  the  eager, 
persistent  questionings  of  the  people.  Priests, 
therefore,  must  become  public  teachers  and 
preachers. 

In  India  a  Hindoo  Tract  Society  has  been 
established  at  Madras  for  the  issuance  of  publica- 
tions in  defense  of  Brahmanism  and  malignant  at- 
tacks upon  Christianity.  In  the  plazas  and  mar- 
ket places  their  best  orators  stand  to  plead  with 
the  multitudes.  Not  only  so,  but  eloquent  Hin- 
doos have  felt  constrained  to  come  to  America  and 
appeal  to  Christians  to  cease  missionary  effort  in 
India,  because  it  is  a  sad  and  certain  failure.  They 
benevolently  urge  our  people  no  longer  to  squan- 
der their  means  on  a  visionary  enterprise  and  a 
forlorn  hope.  But  if  Christianity  is  making  no 
progress,  why  should  Vivekananda  and  others 
make  such  piteous  appeals  to  the  American  pub- 
lic?    Why  be   disturbed   about  a  cause  in  which 


122  MODERN  MISSIONS. 

there  is  no  hope  of  success?  Dr.  Jenkins,  of  En- 
gland, for  years  a  missionary  in  India,  not  long 
since  uttered  these  significant  words:  *'Just  one 
century  ago,  in  yonder  small  meetinghouse  in  Not- 
tingham, there  was  a  question  debated  by  a  little 
Baptist  council:  'How  can  we  get  Christianity 
into  India?'  There  is  another  question  debated 
now  by  our  enemies  here  and  in  India:  *  How  can 
we  get  Christianity  out  of  India?  '  "  But  the  time 
of  its  uprooting  and  transplanting  will  never  come. 
It  can  never  be  gotten  out  of  India,  or  any  other 
land,  where  it  is  firmly  planted.  And  the  better 
informed  natives  themselves  see  the  hand-writ- 
ing on  the  wall,  and  have  not  failed  in  its  in- 
terpretation. An  appeal  from  certain  Hindoos, 
sent  out  to  arouse  the  natives  to  vigorous  and 
united  action  against  Christianity,  contained  this 
significant  admission:  **  Missionaries  have  cast 
their  nets  over  our  children  by  teaching  them  in 
their  schools,  and  they  have  already  made  thou- 
sands of  Christians,  and  are  continuing  to  do  so. 
Do  you  not  know  that  the  number  of  Christians  is 
increasing,  and  the  number  of  Hindoo  religionists 
decreasing  every  day  ?  "  It  was  mere  bluster  when 
a  Buddhist  priest  said  to  a  Moravian  missionary: 
''I  will  tell  you  what  you  have  done  here:  you 
have  given  Buddhism  a  resurrection.''     If  so,  the 


FRUITS   FROM  VARIOUS   FIELDS.  12^ 

graveclothes  are  still  on  the  corpse,  and  the  pallor 
of  death  yet  on  its  cheeks.  But  really  there  has 
been  no  resurrection.  The  stone  has  only  been 
rolled  from  the  door  of  the  sepulcher  and  revealed 
the  ghastliness  of  the  grave. 

But  there  is  no  diviner  evidence  of  the  power 
of  the  gospel  than  its  transformation  of  heathen 
houses  into  ho^nes.  If,  as  has  been  beautifully 
said,  "the  first  consecrating  touch  of  the  incar- 
nation rested  upon  the  family,"  we  should  expect 
to  find  among  the  first  fruits  of  the  gospel  of  the 
Incarnate  Son  of  God  in  heathen  lands  a  recon- 
structed and  purified  family  life.  This  is  at  once 
the  test  of  a  religion  and  the  condition  of  its  tri- 
umph. Unless  the  home,  w^hich  is  the  corner  stone 
of  the  social  state,  the  palladium  of  national  life, 
and  the  stronghold  of  religion,  can  be  reached  and 
reclaimed,  there  is  no  hope  of  redeeming  the  na- 
tions. I  reproduce,  with  heartiest  approval,  the 
noble  words  of  Dr.  Fairbairn:  ''A  religion  that 
does  not  purif}^  the  home  cannot  regenerate  the 
race ;  one  that  depraves  the  home  is  certain  to  de- 
prave humanity.  Motherhood  is  to  be  sacred,  if 
manhood  is  to  be  honorable.  Spoil  the  wife  of 
sanctity,  and  for  the  man  the  sanctities  of  life  have 
perished.'' 

The  radiating,  saving  center  of  a  community  is 


124  MODERN  MISSIONS. 

a  Christian  home.  Hence  the  vast  importance  of 
missionaries  establishing,  as  eloquent  object  les- 
sons to  the  heathen,  bright,  cheerful,  happy  Chris- 
tian homes.  A  distinguished  missionary  states- 
man did  not  overestimate  the  power  of  such  a  si- 
lent ministry  when  he  uttered  these  earnest  words  : 
**  Into  the  midst  of  pagan  masses — where  society  is 
coagulated  rather  than  organized,  where  homes 
are  degraded  by  parental  tyranny,  marital  multi- 
plicity, and'^female  bondage — he  brings  the  heaven 
of  a  redeemed  family,  which  is  to  be  the  nucleus 
of  a  redeemed  community." 

In  heathen  countries  there  are  no  homes,  only 
houses.  The  basis  of  family  life  is  tyrannous  and 
grossly  immoral.  Prof.  Monier  Williams  says 
that  in  no  Indian  tongue  is  there  "  any  equivalent 
for  that  grand  old  Saxon  monosyllable,  Hoine — 
that  little  word  which  is  the  key  to  our  national 
greatness."  And  that  judgment  is  confirmed  by 
the  Hindoo  philosopher,  Keshub  Chunder  Sen, 
who  remarked  that  a  home  in  Bengal  was  **  a 
whited  sepulcher!  There  may  be  exceptions,  but 
this  is  the  rule.  The  horrors  of  the  zenana  are 
multiplied  tenfold  by  the  misery  of  the  joint  family 
system,  and  the  degradation  which  domestic  ill  will 
produces."  That  certainly  is  a  remarkable  admis- 
sion from  a  native,  who  must  have  spoken  by  the 


FRUITS   FROM  VARIOUS   FIELDS.  1 25 

authority  of  thorough  knowledge.  Chief  Justice 
Miyoshi,  of  Japan,  when  on  a  visit  to  England  some 
years  ago,  and  residing  temporarily  in  a  Christian 
family,  uttered  these  words:  ''Here  I  am  forty 
years  of  age,  and  I  never  knew  what  home  was  be- 
fore." 

Christian  Missions,  in  reconstructing  the  fam- 
ily life,  have  put  "the  bright  crown  of  queen- 
ship  upon  woman's  brow."  The  drudge  and  slave 
has  been  elevated  to  her  rightful  throne.  Fetters 
have  been  broken  from  her  limbs,  and  the  burdens 
of  a  beast  have  been  lifted  from  her  chafed  and 
weary  shoulders.  Christianity  alone  puts  honor 
upon  womanhood.  Bishop  Alexander  has  force- 
fully said:  "From  her  out  of  whom  Jesus  cast 
seven  devils  to  the  Chinese  woman  converted  last 
year,  womanhood  confesses:  '  Christ  first  taught 
us  that  we  were  women.'  " 

Her  degradation  in  all  heathen  countries  is  be- 
yond power  of  description  or  exaggeration.  The 
old  Arabic  proverb  which  says  that  the  threshold 
of  the  house  weeps  forty  days  when  a  girl  is  born 
is  the  heathen  estimate  of  womanhood.  She  has 
no  rights  to  be  respected,  no  feelings  to  be  re- 
garded, no  character  to  be  protected,  no  honor  to 
be  defended,  no  opinions  to  be  considered,  and  no 
mind  to  be  educated.     In  all  non-Christian  lands, 


126  MODERN  MISSIONS. 

a  hundred  years  ago,  there  was  scarcely  a  woman 
able  to  read.  So  degraded  was  her  condition  and 
so  fixed  in  social  life,  that  when  Dr.  Duff  first 
went  to  India  he  said  that  to  educate  and  elevate 
woman  was  as  difficult  as  to  *'  scale  a  wall  five 
hundred  feet  high."  But  that  wall  has  been  scaled, 
for  it  is  now  stated  that  **  in  the  province  of 
Bengal  alone  a  hundred  thousand  women  and 
girls  are  under  instruction,"  and  all  over  the  em- 
pire a  change  amounting  to  a  social  revolution  has 
been  wrought.  To-day  there  are  native  lady  grad- 
uates of  universities  in  several  Oriental  coun- 
tries. And  it  is  said  that  the  very  appearance  of 
the  women  tells  whether  or  not  a  Christian  mis- 
sion has  been  established  in  a  community,  for  it 
must  be  that,  as  Dr.  Gordon  says,  **  the  gospel 
gives  new  hands  and  new  faces,"  as  well  as  new 
hearts,  to  those  who  accept  it.  Most  interesting  is 
this  testimony  from  the  distinguished  missionary. 
Dr.  J.  Murray  Mitchell:  "  In  Southern  India,  for 
instance,  you  can  tell  whether  a  village  is  largely 
Christianized  by  the  appearance  of  the  women  at 
the  well:  their  dress  is  more  seemly,  their  look  is 
different.  Nearly  every  Hindoo  woman  has  a 
careworn,  anxious  face,  as  if  the  battle  of  life 
tried  her  sore.  The  Christian  woman  has  a  far 
more  peaceful  expression." 


FRUITS   FROM  VARIOUS   FIELDS.  127 

As  farther  evidence  of  the  remarkable  and  sub- 
stantial growth  of  Missions,  I  quote  another  strik- 
ing statement  from  the  recent  missionary  address 
of  ex-Secretary  John  W.  Foster:  '*A  few  months 
ago  I  stood  at  Beyrout,  Syria,  by  the  grave  of 
PHny  Fisk,  the  first  missionary.  Within  a  radius 
of  two  miles  of  that  grave  are  four  Christian  col- 
leges, seven  female  seminaries,  sixty  boys'  schools, 
thirty-two  girls'  schools,  seventeen  printingpresses, 
and  four  large  hospitals . ' '  Two  items  in  that  won- 
derful sentence,  were  there  no  others,  indicate  the 
measureless  distance  between  us  and  the  earlier 
days  of  Pliny  Fisk:  "  seven  feniale  seminaries, 
and  thirty-two  girls'  schools.''  What  that  means 
to  the  uplifting  of  India  and  the  redemption  of  the 
Orient  those  can  appreciate  who  have  studied  the 
joint  family  system,  and  the  iniquities  of  the 
zenana. 

With  the  knowledge  of  Christ  comes  a  desire 
for  the  comforts  and  refinements  of  Christian  civ- 
ilization. While  wise  missionaries  resist  any  ef- 
fort to  force  upon  the  East  the  dress  and  customs 
of  the  West — condemn  attempts  to  Europeanize 
and  denationalize — some  changes  are  necessarily 
wrought.  Modesty  is  one  of  the  first  fruits  of 
Christianity.  To  Dr.  Lindsey  we  are  indebted 
for  this  suggestive  statement:   * 'Among  the  Zulus 


128  MODERN  MISSIONS. 

the  first  sign  of  approach  to  Christ  is  a  desire  for 
clothes.  A  man  comes  one  day  and  buys  a  calico 
shirt;  the  next  day,  perhaps,  and  buys  a  pair  of 
duck  pants ;  then  a  three-legged  stool,  for  he  can  no 
longer  sit  on  the  ground;  and  with  shirt  and  pants 
on,  and  seated  on  that  stool,  he  is  a  thousand  miles 
above  the  level  of  the  heathen  around  him." 

And  like  testimony  is  borne  by  a  United  States 
Minister  to  Turkey.  Referring  to  the  influence  of 
American  missionaries  on  the  habits  of  the  people, 
and  the  w^ork  being  done  by  the  colleges  at  Con- 
stantinople, Alexandria,  Cairo,  Asyoot,  and  Bey- 
rout,  he  uses  this  strong  language:  *' The  Arab 
youth  who  has  graduated  at  the  college  in  Beyrout 
is  no  longer  contented  to  live  in  a  mud  pen,  to 
clothe  himself  in  filthy  rags,  or  not  at  all,  and  to 
live  on  sugar  cane.  He  aspires  to  live  as  do  his 
teachers,  who  come  from  the  great  republic  on 
the  other  side  of  the  Atlantic  Ocean.  He  tells  his 
family  and  friends  something  of  what  he  has 
learned;  and  an  ambition,  a  longing  for  something 
better  than  they  have  ever  known,  is  inspired  in 
them." 

Christianity  also  increases  the  wealth-producing 
capacity  of  a  -people.  It  touches  the  mainspring 
of  enterprise,  unlocks  latent  energies,  and  gives 
wise  direction  to  awakened  industry.    Dr.  George 


FRUITS  FROM  VARIOUS  FIELDS.  1 29 

Smith,  the  historian  of  modern  Missions,  makes 
this  statement  as  to  India:  **No  statistics  can 
show  the  growth  of  these  native  Christians  in 
wealth,  in  social  position,  in  official  and  profes- 
sional influence.  They  are  pushing  out  the 
Brahmans,  by  character,  by  ability,  and  by  in- 
telligent loyalty,  until  the  Hindoo  press  confesses 
the  fact  with  apprehension,  and  the  local  blue 
books  report  it  continually  to  Parliament."  A 
large  proportion  of  those  reached  and  redeemed 
by  the  gospel  are  of  the  humbler  classes — the  poor 
to  whom  the  Master  preached.  And  on  that  ac- 
count Christianity  is  ridiculed  as  the  religion  of 
coolies  and  pariahs.  But  by  its  uplifting  power 
the  poorest  are  enriched  and  outcasts  are  given 
such  dignity  and  influence  until  the  highest  castes 
are  forced  to  do  them  reverence.  There  is  a  roy- 
alty in  the  blood  of  Christ  that  gives  rank  to  a 
pariah,  and  improves  a  hundredfold  the  earthly  es- 
tate of  a  coolie.  Missionary  annals  are  crowded 
with  incidents  which  strikingly  illustrate  this  sug- 
gestive fact. 

This  multiplied  power  of  achievement  is  also 
conferred  upon  nations  with  their  acceptance  of 
the  Christian  religion.  The  wealth  of  the  world 
is  in  Christian  treasuries.     The  commerce  of  the 

world  is  controlled  by  Christian  countries*     The 
9 


130  MODERN  MISSIONS. 

tonnage  of  the  world  is  carried  almost  entirely  in 
vessels  flying  the  flags  of  Christian  nations.  And 
it  is  also  suggestive  that  the  tonnage  of  Protestant 
countries  is  nearly  Six  times  as  great  as  that  of  the 
Roman  Catholics.  Race  and  climatic  conditions 
do  not  account  for  this  vast  difference  in  wealth 
and  dominion.  It  is  the  type  of  a  people's  reli- 
gion that  determines  their  earthly  as  well  as  their 
heavenly  estates.  A  new  heaven  creates  a  new 
earth.  Christianity  has  an  industrial  value  beyond 
possible  calculation.  No  wonder,  therefore,  that 
the  new  Lieutenant  Governor  of  Bengal,  speaking 
as  a  government  official,  and  noting  the  influence 
of  the  Christian  religion  upon  the  citizenship,  so- 
cial condition,  and  industrial  development  of  the 
empire,  uttered  these  emphatic  words:  **  I  make 
bold  to  say  that  if  Missions  did  not  exist  it  w^ould 
be  our  duty  to  invent  them." 

The  non-Christian  natives  in  all  the  mission 
fields  are  beginning  so  to  appreciate  the  commer- 
cial value  of  Christianity  that  they  are  placing  their 
children  in  mission  schools  to  be  educated.  The 
most  popular  institutions  in  China  to-day  are  those 
conducted  by  Christian  missionaries.  And  these 
sentences  from  the  most  influential  non-Christian 
newspaper  in  India,  the  Hindu,  show  the  drift  of 
intelligent  native  sentiment  in  that  great  empire : 


FRUITS  FROM  VARIOUS   FIELDS.  I3I 

The  progress  of  education  among  the  girls  of  the  native 
Christian  communitv,  and  the  absence  of  caste  restrictions,  will 
eventually  give  them  an  advantage  which  no  amount  of  intel- 
lectual precocity  can  compensate  the  Brahmans  for.  We  re- 
cently printed  the  statement  of  a  Bombay  paper  that  the  social 
eminence  which  at  the  present  moment  the  Parsees  so  de- 
servedly enjoy  was  due  to  these  two  causes — namely,  that  their 
women  are  educated,  and  they  are  bound  by  no  restrictions  of 
caste.  These  two  advantages  slowly  make  themselves  felt 
among  our  native  Christian  people,  and  it  is  possible  that  they 
will  soon  become  the  Parsees  of  Southern  India.  They  will 
furnish  the  most  distinguished  public  servants,  barristers,  mer- 
chants, and  citizens,  among  the  various  classes  of  the  native 
community. 

The  tenderness  and  sympathy  introduced  by 
Christianity  into  heathen  countries  are  one  of  the 
striking  evidences  of  its  divine  power.  When  it 
changes  the  nature  it  softens  the  manners  and 
opens  a  fountain  of  brotherly  sympathy  in  the 
heart.  Stoicism  is  converted  into  pity,  savagery 
into  humanity,  brutaUty  into  brotherhood.  Mr. 
Lecky  thus  refers  to  the  softening  influence  of  the 
Christian  religion:  '*As  a  matter  of  fact  Chris- 
tianity has  done  more  to  quicken  the  affections  of 
mankind,  to  promote  piety,  to  create  a  pure  and 
merciful  idea,  than  any  other  influence  that  has 
ever  acted  upon  the  world."  And  it  is  said  that 
the  charity  and  help  shown  by  native  Christians 
are  in  such  marked  contrast  with  the  hardness  and 


132  MODERN  MISSIONS. 

indifference  of  Mohamniedans,  Hindoos,  and  oth- 
er heathen  as  to  become  a  convincing  appeal  for 
the  religion  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  Some 
transformations  are  certainly  wonderful,  as  in  the 
case  of  Africaner,  the  first  trophy  of  Moffat's  min- 
istry, and  thousands  of  others  that  might  be  gath- 
ered. 

It  has  also  affected  the  sentiment  and  life  of  na- 
tions not  yet  Christian.  A  spendid  illustration 
comes  from  Japan  and  the  late  Japan-China  war. 
In  the  ancient  capital  city  of  Kioto,  Japan,  may 
be  seen  the  famous  **Ear  Monument,"  a  large 
mound  on  which  is  a  stone  or  marble  shaft.  Be- 
neath that  mound  were  buried  the  ears  of  Coreans 
killed  and  captured  by  the  Japanese  in  a  war  of 
the  sixteenth  century.  Such  brutality  makes  one 
shudder,  and  to  perpetuate  it  in  marble  is  nothing 
less  than  horror.  But  a  change  has  come  over  the 
Sunrise  Kingdom.  In  1894-95,  during  the  war  be- 
tween Japan  and  China,  the  Red  Cross  Society 
had  charge  of  all  Japanese  hospitals,  in  which  sick 
and  wounded  Chinese  prisoners  were  cared  for  as 
tenderly  as  the  bravest  Japanese  soldiers.  The 
Empress  herself  was  daily  engaged,  with  her  la- 
dies at  court,  in  making  bandages  and  preparing 
lint,  which  were  used  on  wounded  Chinese  and 
Japanese  alike.    What  a  marvelous  change !    What 


FRUITS   FROM  VARIOUS  FIELDS.  133 

a  vast  distance  from  the  '*Ear  Monument,"  at 
Kioto,  to  the  Red  Cross  hospitals  at  Hiroshima! 
And  it  is  a  suggestive  coincidence  that  in  the  city 
of  Kioto,  and  under  the  very  shadow  of  that  mon- 
ument to  brutahty,  an  orphan  asylum  for  little 
girls  is  being  established  by  a  native  Christian 
teacher,  to  which  he  devotes  all  his  property. 

Another  most  gratifying  result  has  been  the  de- 
velopment of  the  native  church  in  heathen  lands. 
By  this  "infant"  Church  these  lands  must  at  last 
be  Christianized.     The  firm  planting  of  the  native 
church  is  the  ultimate  aim  of  Christian  Missions ; 
or,  as  the  distinguished  Secretary  of  the  Church 
Missionary  Society  says,  it  is  "the  development 
of  native  churches  with  a  view  to  their  ultimate 
settlement  upon  a  self-supporting,  self-governing, 
and  self -extending  system.     When  this  settlement 
has  been  effected,  the  mission  will  have  attained  its 
euthanasia,  and  the  missionary  and  all  missionary 
agencies    can    be  transferred  to  the  'regions  be- 
yond.'"    This    ultimate    aim    in  some  fields   has 
been  already  attained,  and  these  vigorous  young 
churches  are  sending  their  flaming    apostles  into 
other  lands.     Wise  caution   should  be   observed, 
however,  in  withdrawing  supervision  from  mission 
fields. 

Dr.  Lawrence    characterizes   the    reproductive 


134  MODERN   MISSIONS. 

spirit  of  the  gospel  in  these  striking  words:  ^^JEv- 
ery  church  should  work  out  into  a  7nission;~  every 
mission  should  work  out  into  a  church.''''  The 
rapidity  with  which  some  missions  have  worked 
out  into  self-sustaining  and  self-extending  churches 
reveal  the  same  supernatural  power  that  attended 
the  successful  ministry  of  St.  Paul.  Dr.  Mackay, 
who  reported  2,546  baptisms  in  fifteen  years, 
makes  this  cheering  statement:  "If  the  Church 
in  North  Formosa  were  now  left  without  foreigners 
or  foreign  help,  I  believe  that  it  would  grow  and 
prosper.  The  people  know  enough  of  the  gospel 
to  appreciate  it,  and  at  each  chapel  they  would 
manage  to  find  sufficient  to  support  a  preacher,  so 
that  he  might  give  himself  wholly  to  the  work  of 
preaching  and  teaching." 

An  intelligent  young  Japanese  Christian,  in  a 
letter  written  but  a  few  months  ago,  uttered  these 
confident  words:  "I  thank  God  that  his  religion 
has  found  such  a  deep  root  in  Japan  that,  even  if 
all  missionary  efforts  are  withdrawn  from  my  coun- 
try, Christianity  will  go  on  her  way  just  the  same." 

From  the  Samoan  group  of  islands,  with  a  Chris- 
tian population  of  over  thirty  thousand  souls,  comes 
intelligence  that  not  only  thrills  our  faith,  but  is  a 
suggestive  lesson  to  the  Church  at  home.  Besides 
supporting    their  own  ministry,   a  few  years   ago 


FRUITS   FROM  VARIOUS   FIELDS.  1 35 

they  sent  a  thank  offering,  as  their  custom  is,  of 
£i,8oo,  to  the  London  Missionary  Society.  When 
a  Church  member  dies,  they  still  keep  his  name  on 
the  books,  with  a  mark  opposite  which  means :  *  *  We 
cannot  think  of  him  as  dead,  either  to  us  or  to  the 
work.  We  shall  give  a  contribution  in  his  name, 
that  the  cause  may  not  suffer  by  his  removal 
hence."  And  to  the  northwest  of  Samoa  there  are 
ten  thousand  people  who  have  been  won  from 
heathenism  by  Samoans. 

From  China  the  missionaries  send  like  hopeful 
assurance.  In  large  portions  of  the  Shantung  and 
other  provinces,  churches  are  almost  entirely  self- 
supporting,  though  the  people  are  distressingly 
poor.  Instances,  eloquent  and  numerous,  could 
be  given.  Time  would-  fail  to  tell  of  a  Taoist 
priest  in  a  country  village,  soundly  converted,  and 
then  converting  his  house  into  a  chapel  that  he 
might  preach  to  his  neighbors,  without  salary;  of 
a  true-hearted  woman,  the  only  Christian  in  a  com- 
munity, praying  and  working  until  she  secured  a 
school  which  grew  into  a  church:  of  a  little 
Church,  on  the  day  of  its  separate  organization, 
subscribing  the  entire  salary  of  a  pastor  —  and 
scores  of  others  that  glorify  the  annals  of  the 
Church  in  China,  and  are  surely  recorded  in  the 
chronicles  of  the  skies.     Dr.  Nevins  says:    **  Ex- 


136  MODERN  MISSIONS. 

perience  in  China  shows  that  now,  as  in  the  early 
history  of  the  Church,  Christianity  may  be  speed- 
ily and  widely  propagated  by  the  spontaneous  and 
silent  influence  of  native  Christians."  There  can 
be  no  doubt  of  the  sincere  faith  of  those  humble 
Christians  in  Ceylon,  who  are  giving  their  labor 
when  needed,  and,  tithing  their  poverty  for  the 
Lord,  take  out  a  handful  of  rice  from  every  day'' s 
7neal  and  consecrate  it  to  God.  Such  self-denial 
we  have  not  elsewhere  found — no,  not  in  Israel. 
In  Uganda,  entered  a  few  years  since,  so  rapid 
and  widespread  is  the  enlargement  of  the  work 
that  already  one  hundred  native  laborers  are  in  the 
field,  all  supported  by  native  contributions.  The 
South  India  Missions,  connected  with  the  Church 
Missionary  Society,  contributed  in  one  year  $13,- 
582  in  gold.  And  from  India,  Burmah,  and  Cey- 
lon the  aggregate  contributions  from  native  Chris- 
tians rapidly  increased  from  60,000  rupees  in  1861 
to  159,124  in  1871,  and  to  228,517  rupees  in  1881. 
And  it  is  a  gratifying  fact  that  by  far  the  larger 
portion  of  converts  in  India  are  to-day  won  to 
Christ  by  the  agency  of  the  native  ministry.  Bish- 
op Thoburn  states  that  one  hundred  native  teach- 
er-preachers reported  1,400  converts  in  one  year. 

Most  instructive  is  the  story  of  the  Church  of 
England  Mission  in  Fuchow.     In  1862  there  were 


FRUITS  FROM  VARIOUS  FIELDS.  1 37 

only  three  converts,  and  they  turned  out  unsatis- 
factorily. One  missionary  died,  and  the  other  had 
to  leave  for  a  few  months  on  account  of  failing 
health.  In  his  absence  a  Chinese  mob  set  fire  to 
the  mission  buildings.  So,  after  twelve  years  of 
toil,  the  whole  mission  apparently  collapsed.  But 
the  brave  missionary,  though  advised  against  it, 
under  the  guidance  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  returned  to 
the  ashes  of  his  former  labors  and  began  to  lay 
anew  the  foundation  of  the  kingdom.  At  the  end 
of  1893  there  were  170  places  of  worship  in  that 
province,  11,000  Christian  adherents,  125  cate- 
chists,  and  106  schoolmasters.  "  These  blessed 
results,"  said  Archdeacon  Wolfe,  "  are,  under 
God,  mainly  due  to  the  free  employment  of  a  na- 
tive agency  which,  from  1862  to  the  present  time, 
has  ever  been  liberally  used  in  this  mission." 

At  Sierra  Leone  there  is  a  *'  self-sustaining  and 
self-extending  "  African  Church.  The  only  white 
clergyman  in  the  colony  is  Bishop  Ingram.  All 
pastoral  work  is  in  the  hands  of  native  ministers, 
who  are  represented  as  efficient  and  zealous. 

But  even  more  remarkable  has  been  the  prog- 
ress among  the  Karens  of  Burmah.  After  sixty 
years  of  labor  there  are  forty  thousand  communi- 
cants in  the  Church  and  one  hundred  thousand 
adherents,  with   numerous   schools   and   a  foreign 


138  MODERN  MISSIONS. 

missionary  society.  In  1894  over  sixteen  thousand 
rupees  were  contributed  for  Church  and  school 
purposes.  The  British  Government  report  some 
years  ago  referred  to  the  '*  four  hundred  and  fifty- 
one  Christian  Karen  parishes,  most  of  which  sup- 
port their  own  Church  parish  school  and  native 
pastor,  and  many  of  which  subscribe  considerable 
sums  for  missionary  work,"  and  added  this  trib- 
ute to  their  personal  character:  ''  These  Christian 
Karen  communities  are  so  much  more  industrious, 
better  educated,  and  more  law-abiding  that  the 
British  Government  owes  a  vast  debt  to  the  Amer- 
ican missionaries  under  whom  this  change  has  been 
wrought."  The  late  and  long-to-be-lamented  Dr. 
Gordon  said  that,  though  only  fifty  years  out  of 
heathenism,  **  the  poor  Karens  of  Burmah  outrank 
their  Baptist  brethren  of  ever}^  State  in  the  Amer- 
ican Union  save  two  as  contributors  to  their  mis- 
sionary society." 

The  Fijians,  but  a  few  years  ago  the  worst  of 
cannibals,  are  now  the  most  active  and  heroic  mis- 
sionaries. They  enterprised  the  work  in  New  Brit- 
ain, New  Ireland,  and  other  neighboring  islands 
themselves,  and  in  the  prosecution  of  the  same 
have  cheerfully  suffered  persecutions  for  their 
Lord  that  deserve  large  place  in  the  chronicles  of 
Christian  martyrdom. 


FRUITS  FROM  VARIOUS   FIELDS.  1 39 

The    transforming    power   of    the    Holy    Spirit 
seems  even  more  wonderful  when  we  look  at  the 
character  of  these  native  Christians.     Amiel  says 
that  "  the  test  of  every  religious,  political,  or  edu- 
cational  system  is  the  man  which  it  forms."     By 
that  test  the  fruit  of  Missions  can  stand.     They 
are  not  mere  "  paper  converts,"  as  has  been  sneer- 
ingly  charged — good  only  to  count  and  deceive  the 
Church   at  home— but  display  the  same  genuine 
marks  of  the  Christ  life  as  may  be  seen  in  England 
or  the  United  States.     The  British  Governor,  Sir 
Arthur  Gordon,  reporting  to  his  government,  paid 
this  tribute  to  the  Fijians:    "  Out  of  a  population 
of  about  one  hundred   and   twenty  thousand  one 
hundred  and  two  thousand  are  now  regular  wor- 
shipers in  the  churches,  which  number  eight  hun- 
dred, all  well  built  and  completed.    In  every  family 
there  is  morning  and  evening  worship.''     Such  a 
percentage  of  Church  attendance  and  such  atten- 
tion to  family  religion  can  scarcely  be  paralleled 
in  all  the  world.     In  the  largest  of  the   Samoan 
Islands  it  is  said  that  there  ''  cannot  be  found  fifty 
families  that  fail  to  observe  family  worship,"  and 
of  the   spiritual  character  of  the  work  there  the 
Herald  of  Missions  says:    *'  We  don't  know  if  the 
tide  of  devotion  has  reached  as  high  a  watermark 
anywhere  else  the  wide  world  over." 


140  MODERN  MISSIONS. 

After  the  missionaries  had  been  forty  years  in 
the  Hawaiian  Islands  they  were  visited  by  the  Hon. 
Richard  H.  Dana,  who,  in  writing  of  his  observa- 
tions, made  this  interesting  statement:  *'  I  did  not 
find  a  hut  without  a  Bible  and  hymn  book,  and 
family  worship  and  grace  at  meals  are  as  univer- 
sal as  they  were  a  hundred  years  ago  in  New 
England."  And  ten  years  later  those  islands 
were  visited  by  Mr.  Moncure  D.  Conway,  an 
apostle  of  liberal  thought.  He  was  disappointed 
almost  to  disgust.  Instead  of  witnessing,  as  he 
expected  and  said,  *'  merry  scenes,  islanders 
swimming  around  the  ship  in  Arcadian  innocence, 
and  the  joyous  dance  and  song  of  the  guileless 
children  of  the  sun,"  he  saw  in  Honolulu  a  '*  si- 
lent city,  paralyzed  by  piety,"  and  said  that  he 
had  to  "go  to  church  to  see  people."  ''  Never  in 
Scotland  or  Connecticut,"  said  he,  *'have  I  seen 
such  a  paralysis  as  fell  upon  Honolulu  the  first  day 
of  the  week."  It  was  not  the  purpose  of  this 
boasted  apostle  of  culture  to  make  an  admission  in 
favor  of  Christianity,  but  such  is  the  eloquent  pre- 
lude and  interlude  of  every  word  that  he  has  writ- 
ten. Would  to  God  that  a  like  *' paralysis  of 
piety  "  could  characterize  the  Sabbath  of  ours  and 
every  land ! 

A  distinguished  Hollander,  who  visited  Sumatra 


FRUITS   FROM   VARIOUS   FIELDS.  I4I 

and  made  an  extensive  tour  through  the  Dutch 
East  Indies,  and  who  before  his  travels  had  an 
unconcealed  prejudice  against  Missions,  has  made 
this  statement:  *'To  be  welcomed  in  the  land  of 
cannibals  by  children  singing  hymns,  this,  indeed, 
shows  the  peace-creating  power  of  the  gospel." 
James  Chalmers,  of  New  Guinea,  gives  a  graphic 
account  of  a  Christmas  sacramental  service  in  his 
mission,  in  which  he  says:  "  I  was  united  with, 
and  shed  tears  of  joy  with,  men  and  women  who 
a  few  years  before  sought  our  lives.  What  did  it? 
It  is  the  old  story  still  of  the  gospel  of  Christ." 

Carl  Ritter,  who  has  been  called  the  '*  prince 
of  geographers,"  said  that  the  transformation  in 
the  character  of  the  natives  of  New  Zealand  is 
"  the  standing  miracle  of  the  age."  Of  these  New 
Zealanders  Bishop  Selwyn,  with  a  larger  knowl- 
edge of  the  field,  also  wrote:  **  We  see  here  a 
whole  nation  of  pagans  converted  to  the  faith. 
Where  will  you  find  throughout  the  Christian 
world  more  signal  manifestations  of  the  presence 
of  the  Spirit,  or  more  living  evidences  of  the  king- 
dom of  Christ?" 

The  Chinese  Christians  compare  favorably  with 
any  other  race  in  the  strength  of  their  faith,  the 
solidity  of  their  character,  and  the  genuineness 
of  their  Christian  experience.     Many  testimonies 


142  MODERN  MISSIONS. 

could  be  given.  This  from  a  discriminative  student 
of  the  mission  fields  of  the  world,  the  late  Fleming 
Stevenson,  is  very  clear:  '*I  have  found  nowhere 
in  Christian  lands  men  and  women  of  a  higher 
type  than  I  met  in  China,  of  a  finer  spiritual  expe- 
rience, of  a  higher  spiritual  tone,  or  a  nobler  spir- 
itual life,  and  I  may  say  with  conviction  that  there 
are  in  the  native  churches  in  China  not  only  the 
elements  of  stability,  but  that  steadfast  and  irre- 
sistible revolution  which  will  carry  over  the  whole 
empire  to  the  new  faith."  It  was  a  Chinese  Chris- 
tian, Lough  Fook,  who  sold  himself  into  slavery 
and  shipped  to  the  South  American  mines,  that  he 
might  have  readier  spiritual  access  to  his  country- 
men. And  he  had  the  joy,  before  his  translation, 
of  seeing  nearly  two  hundred  of  them  converted 
to  God,  and  devout  members  of  a  Christian 
Church.  Of  this  beautiful  instance  of  lowly 
consecration — taking  upon  himself  the  form  of  a 
slave — Dr.  Gordon  says:  *'  To  a  Christian  China- 
man belongs,  so  far  as  we  know,  the  unique  honor 
of  wearing  the  Saviour's  bonds  in  voluntary  servi- 
tude." 

During  the  recent  massacres  in  Armenia,  which 
awoke  universal  horror  and  indignation,  atroc- 
ities have  been  committed  almost  without  a 
parallel  in  the  past  century.     And  on  the  other 


FRUITS   FROM  VARIOUS   FIELDS.  1 43 

hand  there  have  been  examples  of  triumphant  faith 
and  heroic  endurance  among  native  Christians, 
worthy  of  conspicuous  mention  in  the  later  acts  of 
the  apostles.  At  least  twenty  native  pastors  have 
suffered  death  rather  than  deny  their  Lord,  while 
hundreds  of  other  Christians  have  filled  martyrs' 
graves.  Writing  under  date  of  February  27,  1896, 
a  missionary  tells  this  thrilling  story:  '*  During  the 
massacre  at  Ourfa  two  young  men  were  seized  by 
the  mob.  They  were  asked  to  accept  Islamism, 
and  were  told  that  refusal  was  death.  The  mother 
of  the  young  men  stood  by,  and  said  to  them: 
*  Die,  but  do  not  deny  the  Lord  Jesus.'  They 
stood  firm,  and  were  immediately  cut  down  by  the 
cruel  swords  of  the  Moslems."  When  Bishop 
Hannington  went  down  to  his  glorious  martyrdom 
in  Uganda,  he  was  accompanied  by  thirty-two  na- 
tive Christians^  '*  massacred  in  one  lot,"  whose 
dying  testimony  was  not  only  triumphant,  but  even 
jubilant. 

Nor  less  emphatic  and  genuine  is  the  testimony 
of  some  tourists  and  scholars  to  the  transforming 
power  of  the  Christian  religion.  Conspicuous 
among  these  is  the  name  of  Charles  Darwin,  the 
great  naturalist,  and  not  supposed  to  be  in  active 
sympathy  with  the  Christian  Church  and  its  mis- 
sionary enterprises.     But  these  are  his  words,  and 


144  MODERN  MISSIONS. 

a  severe  rebuke  they  are  to  shallow  critics  of  For- 
eign Missions: 

Thej  forget,  or  will  not  remember,  that  human  sacrifice  and 
the  power  of  an  idolatrous  priesthood;  a  system  of  profligacy 
unparalleled  in  any  other  part  of  the  world;  infanticide,  a  con- 
sequence of  that  system ;  bloody  wars,  where  the  conquerors 
spared  neither  women  nor  children — that  all  these  things  have 
been  abolished,  and  that  dishonesty,  intemperance,  and  licen- 
tiousness have  been  greatly  reduced  by  the  introduction  of 
Christianity.  In  a  voyager  to  forget  these  things  is  a  base  in- 
gratitude; for  should  he  chance  to  be  at  the  point  of  shipwreck 
on  some  unknown  coast,  he  will  most  devoutly  pray  that  the 
lesson  of  the  missionary  may  have  extended  thus  far. 

Alfred  Russell  Wallace,  the  scientist,  who  wrote 
a  charming  volume  on  the  Malay  Archipelago, 
thus  speaks  of  the  mighty  achievements  of  the  mis- 
sionaries in  those  islands,  where  he  spent  so  much 
time  in  the  study  of  man  and  nature:  '*The  mis- 
sionaries have  much  to  be  proud  of  in  this  country. 
They  have  assisted  the  government  in  changing 
a  savage  into  a  civilized  community  in  a  wonder- 
fully short  space  of  time.  Forty  years  ago  the 
country  was  a  wilderness,  the  people  naked  sav- 
ages, garnishing  their  rude  houses  with  human 
heads.  Now  it  is  a  garden  worthy  of  its  sweet  na- 
tive name  of  '  Minahati.'  " 

Capt.  Briggs,  in  his  interesting  book,  ''Sunny 
Days  in  Salween,"  makes  this  generous  statement: 


FRUITS   FROM  VARIOUS   FIELDS.  1 45 

**As  an  official  of  eight  or  nine  years'  experience 
on  this  coast,  I  can  vouch  for  the  great  moral  ele- 
vation among  the  Christian  Karens.  I  venture  to  as- 
sert that  ten  Christian  villages  give  less  trouble  to 
the  police  than  one  heathen  Karen  village.  In- 
deed, our  registers  show  that  in  one  heathen  town, 
Taung  by  uk,  there  is  more  crime  than  in  the 
whole  Christian  district  of  this  province." 

The  speedy  development  of  ethical  life  in  those 
so  recently  emancipated  from  the  bondage  of 
heathen  superstition  is  pathetically  illustrated  in 
the  first  letter  written  in  English  by  a  Congo  na- 
tive, and  for  which  I  am  indebted  to  Dr.  Pier- 
son.  It  is  addressed  to  the  Archbishop  of  Canter- 
bury : 

Great  and  Good  Chief  of  the  tribe  of  Christ;  Greeting:  The 
humblest  of  your  servants  kisses  the  hem  of  jour  garment,  and 
begs  you  to  send  to  his  fellow-servants  more  gospel  and  less 
rum.     In  the  bonds  of  Christ.  Ugalla. 

And  we  are  made  to  rejoice  over  the  rapid 
progress  of  Missions.  The  movement  has  been 
accelerated  far  beyond  the  faith  of  the  Church. 
The  harvest  is  large,  the  results  marvelous.  When 
we  consider  the  resources  at  command,  the  oppo- 
sition that  had  to  be  encountered,  the  barriers  to  be 
broken  down,  and  the  almost  insurmountable  diffi- 
culties to  be  overcome,  we  cannot  but  be  amazed 
10 


146  MODERN  MISSIONS. 

at  the  majestic  movement  of  the  missionary  cause. 
The  vastness  of  its  achievements  can  only  be  ac- 
counted for  by  a  recognition  of  the  constant  pres- 
ence and  assistance  of  a  supernatural  power.  And 
yet  objection  is  heard  that  Missions  make  slow 
progress.  In  this  demand  for  rapid  results  there 
may  be  evidence  of  an  enfeebled  faith,  a  desire 
to  walk  by  sight.  That  is  the  sturdiest  and  truest 
confidence  in  God  that  laboriously  works,  and  then 
cheerfully  waits.  We  are  too  '*  idolatrous  of  the  im- 
mediate." To  this  objection  Archbishop  Whate- 
ley  once  made  reply  as  follows:  *'  The  man  that  is 
in  a  hurry  to  see  the  full  effects  of  his  tillage  must 
cultivate  annuals,  and  not  forest  trees."  Our  Lord 
waited  long  for  '*  the  fullness  of  time;"  and  as 
we  are  building  for  the  eternities,  we  can  well  af- 
ford to  spend  ample  time  on  the  foundations. 

But  progress  has  not  been  slow.  The  angel  of 
the  apocalypse  has  flown  on  swift  wing.  Nations 
have  been  born  almost  in  a  day.  And  this  prog- 
ress, which  has  been  a  perpetual  miracle,  must  in- 
crease in  ratio ;  for  each  convert  is  not  a  dead 
figure  to  count,  but  a  living  influence  to  work.  So 
the  ratio  of  growth  must  continually  increase.  It 
is  geometrical.  Max  Miiller  well  says:  "An  in- 
tellectual harvest  must  not  be  calculated  by  adding 
simply  grain  to  grain,  but  by  counting  each  grain 


FRUITS  FROM  VARIOUS   FIELDS.  1 47 

as  a  living  seed,  that  will  bring  forth  fruit  a  hun- 
dred and  a  thousand  fold." 

It  was  failure  to  consider  this  vital  fact  that  led 
Canon  Taylor  into  fatal  error.  His  arithmetic 
would  never  have  told  so  lugubrious  a  tale  and  his 
disparagements  of  missionary  activity  and  results 
would  not  have  been  so  contemptuous,  had  he  not 
mistaken  living  souls  for  dead  figures.  Compar- 
ing the  birth  rate  in  heathen  lands  with  the  number 
of  conversions  in  all  mission  fields  for  a  series  of 
years,  and  assuming  that  the  same  ratio  would  con- 
tinue— that  the  present  rate  of  increase  will  be  the 
perpetual  rate — he  employed  the  scornful  figure  of 
the  tortoise  and  the  train  to  travesty  the  utter 
weakness  and  humihating  failure  of  modern  Mis- 
sions. But  the  ratio  of  increase  is  not  stationary. 
Movement  in  some  fields  has  been  by  leaps  and 
bounds,  while  in  almost  every  other  the  progres- 
sion has  been  geometrical.  The  tortoise  has  over- 
taken the  train. 

Protestant  mission  work  began  in  Madagascar, 
*Uhe  Great  Britain  of  Africa,"  in  1818.  The  fruit 
of  ten  years'  labor  was  only  fifty  native  catechu- 
mens. Then  came  the  days  of  bitter  persecution 
which  drove  the  missionaries  from  the  field.  Yet 
in  1868  there  were  37,112  Christians,  and  in  1878, 
just  ten  years  later,  there  were  2^0,000.     In  Japan, 


148  MODERN  MISSIONS. 

after  nearly  twenty  years  of  preparatory  work, 
there  were  3,000  Christians  in  1876;  this  number 
increased  to  14,500  in  1882,  and  in  five  years 
more  to  43,000.  But  even  more  suggestive  are 
the  last  figures  from  another  field,  and  a  single 
mission.  Dr.  E.  W.  Parker,  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Mission  in  India,  said  that  in  1891  their 
converts  were  increasing  at  the  rate  of  6,000  per 
year.  In  1893  Bishop  Thoburn  said  that  the  rate 
had  advanced  to  nearly  fifty  a  day,  or  about  17,000 
per  year;  and  in  1894  the  increase  was  thirty 
thousand.  Indeed,  the  remarkable  success  of  that 
and  other  missions  in  India  has  occasioned  the 
most  serious  problem  of  the  hour — has  precipita- 
ted a  veritable  crises  in  opportunity  and  adminis- 
tration. 

With  the  marvelous  transformation  in  Fiji  the 
world  is  now  familiar.  What  a  change  in  only 
forty  years !  Cannibal  islands  become  thorough- 
ly Christian — churches  built  on  *'  the  site  of  can- 
nibal ovens  " — and  out  of  a  population  of  110,000, 
104,000  regularly  and  reverently  attending  places 
of  public  worship.  James  Calvert  said:  "  When 
I  arrived  at  the  Fiji  group,  my  first  duty  was 
to  bury  the  hands,  feet,  heads,  and  bones  of  arms 
and  legs  of  eighty  victims  whose  bodies  had  been 
roasted  and  eaten  in  a  cannibal  feast.     I  lived  to 


FRUITS   FROM  VARIOUS   FIELDS.  1 49 

see  the  very  cannibals  who  had  taken  part  in  that 
inhuman  festival  gathered  about  the  Lord's  table." 
What  a  history  of  apostolic  achievement  is  con- 
tained in  that  two-line  inscription  to  Dr.  John  Ged- 
die,  in  the  Church  at  Aneityum: 

When  he  landed  here  in  1848  there  were  no  Christians  ; 
When  he  left  here  in  1872  there  were  no  heathen. 

Reports  like  this  from  many  of  the  great  harvest 
fields,  made  by  Dr.  Mansell,  are  now  by  no  means  ex- 
ceptional: "  In  1890  Dr.  Wilson,  of  Budayoon,  in 
only  eleven  months  baptized  1,163;  ^'^'  Buchner, 
of  Bijiore,  baptized  533;  Hazan  Raza  Kahn,  of 
Kas  Ganj,  baptized  415;  Ibrahim  Solomon,  a  con- 
verted Jew,  of  Farthgaj,  baptized  477.  In  1889 
there  had  been  4,000  baptisms;  in  1890  there  were 
nearly  9,000;  and  in  1891  there  have  been  about 
18,000,  while  only  in  a  small  part  of  the  field  20,- 
000  more  are  reported  as  ready  for  membership 
in  the  Church." 

After  years  of  self-denying  toil  and  patient  wait- 
ing, the  Moravian  missionaries  in  the  far-away, 
frozen  parallels  of  Labrador  witnessed  a  Pente- 
cost. It  is  said  that  *'the  churches  could  not  con- 
tain the  numbers  who  flocked  to  hear  the  message 
of  salvation,"  and  soon  the  whole  land  was  trav- 
ersed by  native  evangelists,  baptized  by  the  Holy 
Ghost,  and  preaching  with  persuasive  power.    Dr. 


150  MODERN  MISSIONS. 

Pierson  tells  us  of  a  single  missionary  station  in 
the  East,  near  the  Bosporus,  which  in  fourteen 
years  established  a  central  nucleus,  with  twelve 
out  stations,  and  seven  of  them  containing  self- 
supporting  Christian  churches.  **A11  that  work 
of  fourteen  years,"  he  says,  **was  accomplished 
with  less  money  than  built  the  church  in  the  city 
of  Detroit  in  which  I  preached  for  thirteen  years." 

So  rapid  indeed  has  been  the  march  of  Chris- 
tianity, and  so  extensive  its  conquests,  that  we  may 
say  almost  of  the  entire  world,  as  Tertullian  did  of 
Christian  evangelism  in  the  country  he  knew: 
*'  We  are  but  of  yesterday,  and  we  have  filled  all 
that  belongs  to  you — the  cities,  the  fortresses,  the 
free  towns,  the  very  camps,  the  palace,  the  senate", 
the  forum;  we  leave  to  you  the  temples  only." 
And  in  most  heathen  countries  the  old,  decayed 
temples  are  sadly  neglected,  and  scarcely  a  new 
one  is  being  erected. 

And  these  magnificent  results  have  been  wrought 
with  seemingly  insufficient  means.  There  is  no 
correspondence  between  the  means  employed  and 
the  ends  achieved.  The  fact  that  obscure  fisher- 
men, unlettered,  and  without  official  influence,  and 
in  the  face  of  fierce  fanaticism  and  political  preju- 
dice, wrought  the  mighty  results  they  did,  evi- 
denced beyond  question  the  presence  and  power  of 


FRUITS   FROM  VARIOUS   FIELDS.  I5I 

God.  So  we  are  forced  to  a  like  explanation  of 
the  marvelous  transformations  in  the  mission  field. 
They  were  not  an  evolution,  but  a  spiritual  revolu- 
tion. Consecrated  men,  clothed  only  with  a  pow- 
er from  on  high, 

Mitered  with  pentecostal  flame 

by  the  simple  truths  they  declared,  have  changed 
the  map  of  the  world. 

And  this  rapid  progress  is  the  more  suggestive 
when  we  study  the  comparative  success  of  the  home 
and  foreign  work.  Last  year  it  was  estimated  that, 
while  there  were  about  seven  cofiverts  to  each  of 
the  preachers  of  the  United  States,  there  were  sev- 
enty converts  to  each  of  the  missionaries  in  Asia. 
Seven  and  seventy.  With  an  equal  number  of  la- 
borers the  harvest  is  ten  times  greater  in  the  re- 
gions beyond.  And  yet  some  object  to  Foreign 
Missions  because  of  their  meager  results.  In  the 
Presbytery  of  Shantung,  in  Northern  China,  in 
1891,  760  persons  were  admitted  to  the  communion 
of  the  Church.  There  were  only  nine  Presbyteries 
in  the  United  States,  including  the  great  centers  of 
influence  and  population,  that  made  a  like  report. 
And  ex-Secretary  of  State,  John  W.  Foster,  in  a 
missionary  address,  said  a  few  weeks  ago  that 
«'  the  statistics  for  the  Presbyterian  Church  last  year 
show    that   the    ratio    of    additions   to    the   native 


152  MODERN  MISSIONS. 

churches  in  India  alone  was  nearly  twice  as  great 
as  in  the  churches  in  America." 

The  following  admirable  and  gratifying  summa- 
ry of  results  in  India,  by  Rev.  J.  E.  Scott,  is  only 
a  sample  of  the  fruits  in  almost  every  mission  field : 

1.  Caste  is  breaking  down.  It  is  seen  in  the  way  people  eat 
and  drink,  dress  and  work;  in  the  way  they  travel,  in  their 
schools,  on  their  trains,  steamships,  and  in  their  mills. 

2.  The  poor  are  coming  up.  The  coming  man  in  India  is 
the  converted  sweeper. 

3.  The  people  are  broadening  out.  The  National  Congress, 
the  Social  Congress,  the  newspapers,  the  patronage  of  Western 
science,  the  study  of  law,  medicine,  and  engineering — all  indi- 
cate that. 

4.  Christ  is  honored  more.  Many  among  all  classes  now 
look  upon  him  with  favor.  Brahmos,  Brahmans,  and  Moham- 
medans speak  well  of  him. 

5.  The  Christian  Missions  are  succeeding.  Never  before  in 
the  history  of  India  were  they  advancing  so  rapidly  as  now. 
"The  workers  were  never  so  numerous,  the  schools  never  so 
spiritual,  the  methods  never  so  good,  the  fraternity  and  unity 
never  so  strong,  the  converts  never  so  numerous,  the  Church 
never  so  spiritual  as  now." 

6.  The  native  Church  is  taking  hold.  Often  it  is  becoming 
self-supporting.  The  people  are  appreciating  their  own  pastors. 
Strong  men  are  being  raised  up. 

7.  All  feel  it  worth  the  effort.      Here  are  282,000,000  people. 

Looking  at  these  stupendous  achievements  of 
the  gospel  in  overturning  the  false  faiths  of  the 
world  and  establishing  a  kingdom  '*  wherein  dwell- 
eth  righteousness,"  I  most  heartily  adopt  the  elo- 


FRUITS   FROM  VARIOUS   FIELDS.  153 

quent  words  of  Dr.  Storrs,  as  applied  to  an  earlier 
period:  *' It  conquered,  where  philosophies  had 
failed;  it  exalted,  where  arts  had  degraded;  it 
purified,  where  religions  had  polluted;  and,  in  the 
eloquent  words  of  another,  'it  made  the  instru- 
ment of  the  slave's  agony  a  symbol  more  glorious 
than  the  laticlave  of  consuls  or  the  diadem  of 
kings.'  The  splendor  of  that  supreme  achieve- 
ment no  skepticism  can  shadow,  no  lapse  of  time 
rob  of  its  brightness." 

But  I  need  not  multiply  witnesses  and  add  to 
this  splendid  volume  of  inspiring  testimony.  So 
abundant  and  eloquent  are  these  facts — all  attest- 
ing the  same  thing,  unmistakably  asserting  their 
connection  with  the  same  divine  source  and  influ- 
ence— that  to  deny  the  divinity  of  their  origin 
would  require  a  greater  strain  upon  our  faith  and 
reason  to  account  for  them  in  some  other  way.  It 
has  been  well  said:  **  If  Christianity  be  not  of 
God,  then  is  it  historically  and  structurally  a  series 
of  miracles  unique  in  the  world's  history,  a  mira- 
cle greater  than  its  assumed  supernaturalism  it- 
self." 


LECTURE  V. 


THE  MESSAGE  OF  MISSIONS  TO  THE 
CHURCH. 


THE  MESSAGE  OF  MISSIONS  TO  THE  CHURCH. 

WHEN  the  disciples  of  the  imprisoned  and  de- 
spondent John  the  Baptist  were  dispatched 
to  Jesus,  with  the  strange  message,  "Art  thou  he 
that  should  cpme,  or  do  we  look  for  another?"  his 
only  response  was  the  display  of  his  miracle-work- 
ing power.  With  a  seeming  indifference  to  their 
urgent,  distressful  request,  he  continued  his  mighty 
works — healing  the  sick,  cleansing  the  leper,  rais- 
ing the  dead,  preaching  to  the  poor — and  after  a 
time  quietly  turned  to  the  messengers  and  said: 
**  Go  back  and  tell  John  what  you  have  seen  and 
heard."  As  much  as  to  say:  "  That  will  answer 
his  doubts  and  cheer  his  fainting  faith."  In  the 
works  that  only  God  can  perform  he  will  see  the 
Divine,  the  One  *'  that  should  come,"  and  will 
never  again  '*look  for  another." 

A  like  response  our  Lord  makes  from  all  the 
fields  where,  by  his  command,  missionaries  have 
gone  to  disciple  the  nations,  and  where  his  mira- 
cles of  grace  are  being  daily  and  mightily  wrought. 
He  simply  says:    '*Go  back  and  tell  the  Church 


158  MODERN   MISSIONS. 

what  you  have  seen  and  heard — how  that  the  blind 
see,  the  lame  walk,  the  lepers  are  cleansed,  the 
dead  are  raised,  and  the  poor  have  the  gospel 
preached  unto  them."  Thus  God  is  '' hearing 
witness^  both  with  signs  and  wonders,  and  with  di- 
vers miracles,  and  gifts  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  accord- 
ing to  his  will."  By  the  stupendous  success  of 
his  word,  under  his  own  personal  administration 
and  the  power  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  he  furnishes  the 
infallible  proofs  of  his  divinity,  and  the  gospel's 
perfect  adaptation  to  all  nations,  and  its  entire 
availability  for  all  circumstances,  for  all  races,  and 
for  all  times. 

The  purpose  of  this  lecture  is  to  interpret  the 
message  of  those  miracles  to  the  Church.  For, 
as  St.  Augustine  has  well  said,  **  our  Lord  worked 
miracles  to  signify  somewhat  by  those  miracles, 
and  that  we  should  learn  something  more  from 
them  than  simply  that  they  were  great,  wonderful, 
and  divine."  We  are  to  discover,  if  possible,  the 
"  somewhat  "  signified  by  the  miracles  of  Missions 
in  all  the  fields;  what  lessons  they  have  to  teach 
the  Church,  while  blessing  and  redeeming  the  lost 
millions  of  heathen  lands.  And  I  doubt  not  it  will 
be  ascertained  that  while  they  are  uplifting  the  na- 
tions abroad,  there  is  a  corresponding  edification 
of  the  Church  at  home.     Thus  the  mission  fields 


THE   MESSAGE  OF  MISSIONS.  I59 

become  the  most  thoroughly  furnished  and  effect- 
ive teacher  at  whose  feet  the  Church  can  humbly 
sit  and  eagerly  learn.  A  distinguished  German 
writer  has  said:  "  No  doctrine  can  bring  it  about 
that  there  shall  arise  in  our  hearts  the  full  certainty 
that  God  exists  for  us ;  only  a  fact  can  inspire  such 
confidence  in  us.  Our  certainty  of  God  has  its 
root  in  the  fact  that  within  the  realm  of  history  to 
which  we  ourselves  belong  we  encounter  the  man 
Jesus  as  an  undoubted  reality." 

Missions  have  made  the  world  known.  They 
have  colored  the  maps  of  geographers,  have  traced 
the  lines  of  nations  and  empires,  have  revealed  the 
racial  and  tribal  peculiarities  of  unknown  peoples, 
and  really  furnished  most  of  the  materials  upon 
which  philosophy  speculates  and  commerce  plans 
its  gigantic  enterprises. 

Missions  have  increased  the  Church's  knowl- 
edge of  the  world's  needs.  They  have  uncovered 
its  woes,  and  articulated  its  cry  for  help.  Much 
of  the  intense  opposition  which  William  Carey  en- 
countered, and  the  bitter  raillery  he  endured,  were 
born  of  ignorance  of  heathen  peoples.  Indeed, 
pagan  virtues  were  applauded.  Some  men  said: 
"  We  believe  that  a  Hindoo  is  milder  and  soberer 
than  most  Europeans,  and  as  honest  and  chaste." 
But  that  time  of  ignorance  has  passed  away,  thanks 


l6o  MODERN  MISSIONS. 

to  the  heroic   and  self-denying  toils  of  Christian 
missionaries. 

Amiel,  in  his  journal,  says:  * 'Action  coarsens 
thought."  I  should  rather  say  that  action  tests 
and  defines  thought.  It  measures  and  determines 
the  force  of  any  doctrine.  Thus  every  truth  is 
put  to  final  test.  Modern  Missions  have  contrib- 
uted something,  therefore,  toward  the  verification 
of  the  great  doctrines  of  the  gospel.  Prof.  Austin 
Phelps  says:  '*  The  most  triumphant  way  of  prov- 
ing any  doctrine  involved  in  human  duty  is  to  use 
it.  Make  it  thus  prove  itself  as  a  fact,  and  time 
will  take  care  of  it  as  a  dogma."  We  believe  that 
Jesus  Christ  intended  the  gospel  for  all  men,  and 
that  it  is  adapted  to  all  men  and  necessary  to  all 
men.  We  so  interpret  his  great  commission,  his 
tasting  '*  death  for  every  man,"  and  his  becoming 
the  Propitiation  ''  for  the  sins  of  the  whole  world." 
These  inspired  statements  we  may  steadfastly  be- 
lieve. But  when  we  know  of  different  races  of  men 
in  the  various  mission  fields  of  the  world  intelli- 
gently apprehending  the  gospel,  attesting  its  re- 
deeming virtue  and  illustrating  its  transforming 
power,  steadfast  faith  becomes  triumphant  as- 
surance; and,  as  Bishop  Westcott  says,  **  in  the 
growing  assurance  that  the  gospel  meets  each  real 
need  of  humanity  we   shall  find  the   highest  con- 


THE   MESSAGE   OF   MISSIONS.  l6l 

ceivable  proof  of  its  final  and  absolute  truth." 
And  when  the  mission  fields  further  testify  that  no 
other  religion  except  Christianity  *'  is  doing  at  this 
time  any  regenerating  work  whatever  for  the 
world" — that  all  non-Christian  faiths  are  tending 
to  decay — there  is  left  no  room  for  decent  doubt. 

Among  the  peoples  of  earth  where  mission  work 
has  been  enterprised  there  has  been  found  no  sin- 
gle exception  to  the  perfect  adaptability  of  the  gos- 
pel to  their  real  and  urgent  needs.  Charles  Kings- 
ley  thought  that  he  had  discovered  one.  Taking 
the  position  that  man  might  fall  by  original  sin  too 
low  for  the  gospel  of  Jesus  Christ  to  redeem  him, 
he  refers  for  illustration  to  the  poor  Papuan  of 
Australia.  He  says:  "  The  black  people  of  Aus- 
tralia, exactly  the  same  race  as  the  African  negro, 
cannot  take  in  the  gospel.  .  .  .  All  attempts 
to  bring  him  to  a  knowledge  of  the  true  God  have 
as  yet  failed  utterly.  .  .  .  Poor  brutes  in  hu- 
man shape,  .  .  .  they  must  perish  off  the  face 
of  the  earth  like  brute  beasts."  But  later  reports 
disprove  that  statement. 

Efforts  to  reach  and  reclaim  those  debased  peo- 
ple were  most  discouraging,  traceable,  however, 
to  explainable  reasons,  not  creditable  to  a  great 
Christian  nation.     But  the  labors  of  missionaries 

have  not  been  entirely  fruitless,  as  the  reports  of 
U 


1 62  MODERN   MISSIONS. 

Moravians  abundantly  attest.  The  history  of  some 
conversions,  and  the  subsequent  life  of  the  believ- 
ers, evidence  that  the  Holy  Spirit  can  work  in  their 
hearts  and  produce  like  fruits  to  those  seen  among 
other  people. 

Missions  have  given  the  Church  a  broader  con- 
ception of  the  great  -plan  of  redemption.  It  is  a 
curious  fact  that  the  doctrine  of  the  divine  obliga- 
tion to  give  the  zvorld  the  gospel  has  had  to  win 
its  way  in  the  Church  by  conquest.  Geographical 
and  national  prejudices  have  put  limitations  upon 
the  scope  of  our  religion.  Political  and  racial  an- 
tipathies, imported  into  religious  faith,  have  ob- 
scured its  divine  imperatives  and  circumscribed 
the  extent  of  its  mission.  All  religions  have  been 
more  or  less  provincial.  Some  are  avowedly  and 
distinctively  national.  Christianity  has  not  escaped 
the  narrowing  influences  of  political  and  racial 
prejudices.  They  have  fettered  its  spirit,  and 
stayed  the  majestic  march  of  its  world-wide  mis- 
sion of  redemption.  In  the  early  days  of  the 
Church  God  not  only  called  prophet  and  apostle 
wtth  his  own  clear  and  authoritative  voice,  but  had 
to  employ  miraculous  agencies  to  broaden  their 
conceptions  and  inspire  their  sense  of  obligation. 

In  his  Bampton  Lectures  on  "  Prophecy  a  Prep- 
aration for  Christ  "   Dr.  R.  Payne  Smith  aptly  il- 


THE  MESSAGE   OF  MISSIONS.  163 

lustrates  that  thought  in  this  suggestive  paragraph 
on  Jonah: 

Now  the  prophecies  generally  have  a  message  for  the  hea- 
then nations  round;  only  tAvo  or  three  confine  themselves  to 
Israel  and  Judah.  The  heathen  nations  do  not  lie  beyond  the 
pale  of  God's  providence;  and  thus  Nahum's  one  subject  is 
Nineveh,  Habakkuk's  is  Chaldea,  Obadiah's  is  Edom.  But 
this  is  no  case  merely  of  sending  them  a  warning,  or  recording 
a  condemnation  of  their  sins.  Jonah  has  to  labor  in  person 
among  these  heathen,  and  his  whole  Jewish  nature  rises  up 
against  such  a  service.  He  will  flee  to  the  ends  of  the  earth 
rather  than  so  violate  his  prejudices.  His  name,  Jonah,  means  a 
"dove;"  but  he  cannot  brook  the  thought  of  carrying  the  olive 
branch  to  those  hateful  Assyrians.  Nothing  short  of  evident 
necessity  can  induce  him  to  obey  God's  command.  So  it  was 
with  the  apostles.  Simon  Bar-jonah  will  go  and  receive  the 
Roman  centurion,  Cornelius,  into  the  Church  only  after  he  has 
thrice  had  a  command  from  heaven  not  to  call,  in  his  Jewish 
way,  that  common  and  unclean  which  the  Holy  Ghost  had 
sanctified. 

And  that  history  has  had  to  be  repeated  in  the 
Church  from  the  days  of  Jonah  until  now.  What 
is  known  as  missionary  eras  have  only  been  distin- 
guishing points  when  this  sense  of  obligation  was 
rekindled. 

Regeneration,  as  a  great,  world-wide  enterprise, 
though  not  a  modern  conception,  is  a  distinct  m.od- 
ern  inspiration.  And  this  inspiration  has  deepened 
and  strengthened  with  the  majestic  advance  of 
missionary  forces  in  heathen  lands.      For  some 


164  MODERN  MISSIONS. 

years  after  the  opening  of  this  last  and  most  bril- 
liant missionary  century  of  the  world,  the  prevail- 
ing missionary  sentiment  was  that  a  few  might  be 
restored,  but  there  was  no  strong  faith  in  the  na- 
tion's being  redeemed.  That  was  only  the  dream 
of  enthusiasts  and  visionaries.  In  1796,  when  the 
subject  of  Foreign  Missions  was  introduced  into  the 
Scottish  General  Assembly,  the  proposal  was  con- 
sidered preposterous,  and  vehemently  character- 
ized as  both  '*  absurd  and  revolution ar}-."  But 
now  as  these  triumphs  multiply  with  marvelous  ra- 
pidity— as  nations  are  sometimes  born  in  a  day — 
we  have  increasing  assurance  of  the  indestructible 
and  conquering  vitality  of  the  gospel.  We  have 
learned  the  deeper  meaning  of  those  oft-quoted 
words,  '*  Not  by  might,  nor  by  power,  but  by  my 
Spirit,  saith  the  Lord  of  hosts."  Missions  have 
proved  to  be  **  a  new  discovery  of  divine  re- 
sources." 

And  so  thought  and  wrote  the  calm  and  cau- 
tious Prof.  Christlieb  of  Bonn,  in  these  suggestive 
words:  *'The  work  of  Missions  is  outwardly,  at 
least,  more  extended  than  it  ever  was  before.  In 
this  region,  therefore,  according  to  our  former 
rule,  miracles  should  not  be  entirely  wanting. 
Nor  are  they.  We  cannot,  therefore,  fully  admit 
the   proposition  that   no  more  miracles  are   per* 


THE  MESSAGE   OF   MISSIONS.  165 

formed  in  our  day.  In  the  history  of  modern  Mis- 
sions we  find  many  wonderful  occurrences  zvhich 
unmistakably  remind  its  of  the  apostolic  age.'^ 

The  continued  and  continuing  achievements  of 
the  gospel  in  mission  fields  strengthen  faith  in  its 
power  to  save  the  world.  Faith  increases  with 
cumulative  evidence.  Every  conversion  is  anoth- 
er remove  from  the  apologetic  period.  Salvation 
is  not  an  experiment.  Deliverance  is  not  a  vague 
and  uncertain  hope.  Redemption  is  not  a  mere 
promise.  It  is  a  glorious  fact  attested  by  the  in- 
spiring history  of  the  ages.  It  is  a  joyous  verity 
to  which  millions  are  bearing  blessed  testimony. 
Our  Lord  is  "  mighty  to  save."  On  his  own  shoul- 
ders he  has  laid  the  weight  of  the  world's  woe, 
and  by  his  own  divine  arm  he  has  undertaken  the 
world's  redemption.  His  power  has  been  tested. 
And  by  these  signs  and  wonders  the  Church  has 
been  led  to  expect  greater  things  from  God,  and 
to  attempt  greater  things  for  God. 

And  this  strengthened  faith  in  the  gospel  has  in- 
creased the  Church's  sense  of  indebtedness  to  the 
Christless  millions,  and  led  to  enlarged  plans  for 
their  redemption.  Without  faith  in  the  possible 
salvation  of  all  men  there  can  be  no  adequate  ef- 
fort for  the  recovery  of  all  men.  We  must  believe 
in  the  perfect  adaptation  of  the  gospel  to  all  men. 


i66  Modern  missions. 

its  adequate  provision /"or  all  men,  and  its  final  ex- 
tension to  all  men. 

The  Church  has  been  led  to  believe  that  the  con- 
version of  the  world  is  possible  and  practicable. 

And  with  this  increasing  sense  of  indebtedness 
come  new  discoveries  of  divine  resources.  We 
understand  somewhat  the  meaning  of  the  prayer, 
**Thy  kingdom  come."  It  is  not  that  independ- 
ently God  will  usher  in  his  kingdom,  but  these 
words  are  an  appeal  and  a  pledge.  *'  I  will  do 
all  I  can  to  make  thy  kingdom  come." 

Modern  Missions  have  contributed  to  a  clearer 
estimate  of  the  priceless  value,  and  stronger  faith 
in  the  mighty  power,  of  God's  Word.  Translated 
into  the  various  languages  and  dialects  of  the 
world,  testimonies  to  its  enhghtening  and  redeem- 
ing sufficiency  have  multiplied  a  thousandfold. 
Each  translation  has  been  a  signal  providence, 
and  the  history  of  some  editions  has  been  a  mira- 
cle. We  are  thus  better  able  to  understand  that 
strange,  ominous  statement:  that  the  Lord  is 
**  jealous  of  his  Word  above  all  his  name."  The 
most  sacred  thing  to  him  in  all  this  world  is  his 
Word.  If  men  trifle  with  his  name — with  his  per- 
fections and  powers — they  must  not  tamper  with 
his  Word. 

Paul's  greatest  boast  was  not  that  he  had  fought 


THE   MESSAGE   OF   MISSIONS.  167 

a  good  fight — met  and  mastered  the  last  enemy — 
not  that  he  had  finished  his  course — triumphantly 
reached  the  end  of  an  honored  and  useful  career; 
but  that  he  had  keft  the  faith.  He  had  preserved 
and  preached  it  in  its  integrity  and  entirety,  in  its 
purity  and  power.  Without  admixture  of  human 
tradition,  without  accommodation  to  the  world's 
wisdom,  without  weakening  its  divine  imperatives, 
without  lowering  its  high  standards,  he  had  kept 
the  faith — the  w^hole  faith.  He  called  the  Ephe- 
sian  elders  to  witness,  and  with  pardonable  pride, 
that  he  had  not  shunned  to  declare  the  zuhole  co7in- 
sel  of  God. 

Now  Paul  would  not  have  boasted  of  having 
kept  the  faith  if  it  were  not  worth  keeping.  His 
vision  had  too  wide  a  sweep — he  had  too  ample 
and  accurate  a  knowledge  of  the  world  and  its 
needs — to  spend  thought  and  labor  on  preserving 
anything  of  minor  importance.  With  his  marvel- 
ous power  of  discrimination  he  never  would  have 
placed  such  sacred  emphasis  upon  a  matter  of  sec- 
ondary concern.  But  he  knew  that  it  was  the  ba- 
sis of  character,  the  foundation  of  hope  and  sal- 
vation, the  inspiration  of  spiritual  achievement. 

"  The  words  that  I  speak  unto  you  they  are  spirit 
and  they  are  life,"  is  the  declaration  of  our  Lord 
himself.     The  splendid  achievements  of  the  mis- 


l68  MODERN  MISSIONS. 

sion  fields  were  impossible  without  the  Bible  trans- 
lated into  the  vernacular  of  the  nations.  For,  as 
Dr.  Gordon  has  said,  in  a  sentence  as  lucid  as 
luminous:  "Without  the  Scriptures  Christianity 
may  be  imposed  ufon  a  nation,  but  it  cannot  be 
imj[>lanted  in  a  nation."  And  this  implanting  is 
the  absolute  condition  of  a  nation's  regeneration. 

A  striking  confirmation  of  this  fact  comes  from 
Uganda.  Bishop  Hirsh,  chief  of  the  Roman  Cath- 
olic Missions,  in  a  report  of  his  vast  diocese,  makes 
this  suggestive  statement:  **  I  am  compelled  to  ac- 
knowledge that  we  will  be  forced  to  print  a  trans- 
lation of  the  New  Testament,  which  is  being  spread 
by  the  Protestants  all  over  the  country.  We  can- 
not -prevent  our  people  from  reading  it,  for  every 
one,  with  the  women  and  aged  people,  wishes  to 
learn  to  read  before  being  baptized.  We  are, 
therefore,  busy  with  an  edition  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment, with  commentaries  by  the  Fathers  of  the 
Church." 

This  yielding,  though  under  the  compulsion  of 
necessity,  is  a  long  step  forward,  especially  when 
considered  in  connection  with  other  well  authenti- 
cated facts  of  history. 

The  King  of  Bohemia  on  one  occasion  en- 
treated the  pope  that  the  Church  service  might 
be  performed  in  the   language  of  the   country,  to 


THE   MESSAGE   OF  MISSIONS.  169 

which  the  holy  father  thus  rephed:  "Dear  son, 
know  that  we  can  by  no  means  grant  your  re- 
quest; for,  having  frequently  searched  the  Holy 
Scriptures,  we  have  discovered  that  it  hath  pleased 
and  still  pleases  Almighty  God  to  direct  his  wor- 
ship to  be  conducted  in  a  hidden  language.  .  .  . 
Therefore,  what  your  people  ignorantly  require  can 
in  no  wise  be  conceded  to  them,  and  we  now  for- 
bid by  the  power  of  God  and  his  holy  apostle 
Peter." 

The  two  divinely  appointed  agencies  for  the  sav- 
ing of  the  nations  are  "  the  man  of  God,  the  Chris- 
tian preacher;  and  the  Word  of  God,  the  Chris- 
tian Scriptures."  These  two  must  go  together. 
But  there  have  been  instances,  when  the  "  man  of 
God  "  was  lacking,  that  the  '*  Word  of  God" 
alone  wrought  its  redeeming  work.  This  is 
strikingly  illustrated  in  the  strange  story  of  the 
Pitcairn  Islanders.  Not  by  means  of  a  consecra- 
ted evangelist,  but  by  the  power  of  the  word  in  the 
hands  of  the  wicked  mutineer,  John  Adams,  those 
islands  are  won  from  superstition  and  canni- 
balism to  the  Lord  Christ.  From  the  w^eck  of  a 
vessel  a  Bible  and  prayer  book  were  rescued. 
Having  nothing  else  to  read,  these  two  books  were 
used  to  while  away  the  tedium  of  the  days.  But 
the  Holy  Spirit  sealed  the  word  to  his  joyous  sal- 


170  MODERN  MISSIONS. 

vation.  He  was  converted,  became  a  missionary, 
and  witnessed  the  mighty  works  of  God.  So  as  a 
distinguished  missionary  writer  says:  *'  One  stray 
copy  of  the  blessed  Book  of  God,  and  a  book  of 
common  prayer,  in  the  hands  of  a  reckless,  god- 
less mutineer,  first  became  blessing  and  salvation 
to  himself,  and  then  to  that  degraded  class  by 
whom  he  was  surrounded." 

When  Dr.  WilHam  Goodell  completed  his  trans- 
lation of  the  Bible  into  Armenio-Turkish  in  1841, 
he  said:  "Thus  have  I  been  permitted  by  the 
goodness  of  God  to  dig  a  well  in  this  distant  land, 
at  which  milHons  may  drink."  And  a  like  en- 
thusiasm of  hope  stirred  the  heart  of  Robert  Mof- 
fat to  rapture  on  finishing  the  translation  of  the 
Bible  into  the  language  of  the  Bechuanas.  He 
thus  graphically  relates  his  experience:  *'  I  felt  it 
to  be  an  awful  thing  to  translate  the  Book  of  God. 
When  I  had  finished  the  last  verse,  I  could  hardly 
believe  that  I  was  in  the  world,  so  difficult  was  it 
for  me  to  realize  that  my  work  for  so  many  years 
was  completed.  A  feeling  came  over  me  as  if  I 
should  die.  My  heart  beat  like  the  strokes  of  a 
hammer.  My  emotions  found  vent  by  falHng  on 
my  knees  and  thanking  God  for  his  grace  and 
goodness  in  giving  me  strength  to  accomplish  my 
task."     And  the  great  heart  of  the  sturdy  Scotch- 


The  message  Of  missions.  171 

man,  John  G.  Paton,  became  even  more  fervent  at 
the  thought  of  giving  the  South  Sea  Islanders 
God's  blessed  Word  in  their  own  tongue.  To  any 
but  the  ear  of  faith,  and  one  acquainted  with  the 
mysterious  and  resistless  power  of  the  Word,  the 
conduct  of  the  noble  missionary,  in  striking  off  the 
first  page  of  his  translation  into  the  Tamil  lan- 
guage, seems  the  extravagance  of  an  enthusiast. 
He  says:  **  Do  you  think  me  foolish  when  I  con- 
fess that  I  shouted  in  an  ecstasy  of  joy  when  the 
first  sheet  came  from  the  press  all  correct?  It 
was  about  one  o'clock  in  the  morning.  I  was  the 
only  white  man  then  on  the  island,  and  all  the  na- 
tives had  been  fast  asleep  for  hours.  Yet  I  liter- 
ally pitched  my  hat  into  the  air,  and  danced  like  a 
schoolboy  round  and  round  that  printing  press, 
till  I  began  to  think,  '  I  am  losing  my  reason.' 
Would  it  be  liken  a  missionary  to  be  upon  my 
knees,  adoring  God  for  the  first  portion  of  his 
blessed  Word  ever  printed  in  this  new  language? 
Friends,  bear  with  me:  that  was  as  true  worship 
as  was  even  David's  dancing  before  the  ark  of 
God." 

And  a  no  less  intelligent  and  earnest  tribute  to 
the  power  of  the  Word  comes  from  the  Hawaiian 
Islands.  On  the  occasion  of  the  formal  withdrawal 
of  the  American  Board  of  Missions  from  the  field. 


172  MODERN   MISSIONS. 

turning  over  the  administration  of  the  self-sustain- 
ing Church  to  native  pastors,  whose  contributions 
that  year  amounted  to  $30,000,  the  venerable  na- 
tive missionary,  Kanwealola,  before  a  great  con- 
gregation including  the  royal  family,  w^ith  a  copy 
of  the  Bible  in  the  Hawaiian  language  in  hand,  ut- 
tered these  eloquent  words:  "Not  with  powder 
and  ball,  and  swords  and  cannon,  but  with  this 
living  Word  of  God,  and  his  Spirit,  do  we  go  forth 
to  conquer  the  islands  for  Christ." 

When  the  translation  of  the  New  Testament 
was  ready  for  Uganda,  it  was  joyfully  seized  by 
the  expectant  natives.  A  missionary  thus  writes: 
**  Talk  about  sieges,  if  ever  there  was  a  siege,  it 
was  yesterda}^;  and  this  morning  It  seems  likely 
to  be  renewed  tenfold.  I  mentioned  that  our  ca- 
noe had  come,  and  I  gave  out  on  Sunday  that  the 
Gospel  of  St.  Matthew  would  be  sold  Monday 
morning.  I  was  roused  up  before  it  was  light  by 
the  roar  of  voices,  and,  after  dressing  hurriedly, 
sallied  out  to  see — I  had  almost  said  fight.  Close 
to  my  house  is  a  slight  shed,  used  for  cows  to  stand 
in  in  the  heat  of  the  day.  This  we  barricaded, 
keeping  the  people  outside ;  but  barricades  were 
useless.  In  came  the  door,  and  we  thought  the 
whole  place  would  have  fallen.  In  ten  minutes  all 
the  hundred  Gospels  were  sold."     Bishop  Tucker 


THE   MESSAGE   OF  MISSIONS.  1 73 

reports  the  desire  for  the  Scriptures  so  great  that 
they  had  to  offer  an  entire  invoice  for  sale  at  sev- 
eral designated  places  simultaneously. 

And  what  thrilling  personal  testimonies  to  the 
power  of  this  word  come  from  mission  fields !  A 
marvelous  history  it  would  make  if  the  various 
texts  that  were  used  by  the  Holy  Spirit  in  the  con- 
version of  the  heathen  could  be  collected.  It  was 
the  story  of  the  Saviour's  agony  in  the  garden, 
that  fell  into  the  heart  of  a  stolid  savage  named 
Kajarnack,  which  won  the  first  Christian  convert 
in  Greenland;  or,  as  Dr.  Gordon  poetically  says, 
he  is  ''  the  first  bloom  of  the  rose  of  Sharon  ap- 
pearing in  the  frozen  field  of  Greenland." 

By  such  testimonies  the  faith  of  the  Church  is 
strengthened  in  the  power  of  the  word  to  redeem 
all  men,  and  the  whole  of  man. 

Another  message  of  Missions  to  the  Church  is 
this :  Civilization  is  impossible  without  Christiarii- 
zation.  It  is  the  gospel  that  civilizes  and  human- 
izes. The  statue  of  David  Livingstone,  at  Edin- 
burgh, is  an  heroic  figure  of  the  great  missionary 
explorer  standing  with  a  Bible  in  one  hand,  while 
the  other  rests  upon  an  ax.  That  is  a  magnifi- 
.cent  conception  of  the  true  genius  of  Christianity, 
and  the  three  agencies  of  its  final  triumph :  a  man, 
the  Bible,  and  an  industrial  implement.     But  an 


174  MODERN  MISSIONS. 

industrial  implement  in  an  unskilled  hand,  a  hand 
untrained  by  the  *'  man  of  God  "  and  the  **  Word 
of  God,"  will  never  pioneer  or  plant  civilization  in 
any  land.  Dr.  Storrs  only  echoes  the  '*  answ^er- 
ing  voice  of  history"  when  he  says:  "No  reli- 
gion save  that  of  the  New  Testament  can  put  the 
moral  basis  beneath  human  society  and  human  civ- 
ilization." Every  attempt  to  civilize  without  the 
gospel  has  proved  a  disastrous  failure.  Yet  these 
failures  and  follies  are  repeated.  And  there  are 
some  who,  as  Dr.  Gordon  says,  while  the}^  **  be- 
lieve that  the  Word  of  God  is  the  *  sword  of  the 
Spirit,'  are  yet  tempted  to  believe  that  that  sword 
needs  civilization  as  the  hilt  for  grasping  it  and 
driving  it  home." 

Samuel  Marsden,  the  pioneer  of  New  Zealand, 
in  his  early  missionary  career,  said  that  **  civiliza- 
tion must  work  in  preparation  for  conversion." 
After  twenty  3^ears  he  wrote  down  this  very  differ- 
ent but  more  mature  judgment:  '*  Civilization  is 
not  necessary  before  Christianity.  We  may  give 
them  both  simultaneously,  if  we  will;  but  it  will 
always  be  found  that  civilization  follows  Christian- 
ity, rather  than  conversely.  If  we  speak  with  the 
poor  heathen  of  his  God  and  the  Saviour,  he  will 
understand.  The  rest  will  come  of  itself."  But 
concrete  examples  are  more  convincing  than  the 


THE   MESSAGE   OF   MISSIONS.  1 75 

clearest  statements  or  strongest  opinions  of  most 
trustworthy  witnesses.  I  recall,  therefore,  the  ex- 
perimental test  made  by  Bishop  Colenso  in  Africa. 
Fie  selected  twelve  Zulu  lads  and  took  them  into 
his  service,  using  every  possible  art  and  influence 
upon  them,  except  the  gospel.  Christian  teaching 
was  rigidly  excluded.  When  the  time  expired, 
every  one  returned  to  barbarism,  leaving  his  Eu- 
ropean clothes  behind  him.  The  next  day,  it  is 
said,  the  good  Bishop  went  over  to  the  American 
Mission,  and  left  a  note  for  fifty  pounds,  with  this 
statement:  "  You  were  right,  and  I  was  wrong." 
And  even  more  suggestive  is  the  story  told  of 
Hongi,  the  New  Zealand  chief,  who  spent  some 
time  in  London,  and  was  thought  to  be  quite  civi- 
lized. But  on  his  return  to  New  Zealand,  and  en- 
gaging in  a  tribal  w^ar,  it  is  related  that  '*  the  first 
thing  he  did,  after  a  battle  in  which  he  was  victo- 
rious, was  to  tear  out  and  swallow  the  right  eye  of 
his  slain  enemy,  and  to  bite  into  his  fluttering  heart, 
while  he  served  hundreds  of  his  foes  as  food  for 
his  victorious  army." 

James  Calvert,  whose  life  was  spent  among  the 
Fijians,  and  who  saw  those  people  rise  from  the 
degradation  of  cannibalism  to  a  stage  of  civiliza- 
tion that  has  commanded  the  attention  of  the 
world,  made  this  strong  statement:   "  I  have  nev- 


176  MODERN  MISSIONS. 

er  talked  with  a  single  man  or  woman,  or  with  a 
single  people,  that  your  civilization  without  Chris- 
tianity has  civilized.  Wherever  there  has  been 
the  slightest  spark  of  civilization  in  the  South  Seas, 
it  has  been  where  the  gospel  has  been  preached. 
Civilization !  The  rampart  can  only  be  stormed 
by  those  who  carry  the  Crosse 

These,  and  other  testimonies  that  might  be  gath- 
ered into  a  ponderous  volume  of  evidences,  all 
confirm  the  statement  of  the  great  historian,  Mr. 
James  A.  Froude,  who  said:  *'A11  that  we  call 
modern  civilization  in  a  sense  which  deserves  the 
name  is  the  visible  expression  of  the  transforming 
power  of  the  gospel." 

Mr.  Huxley  gives  expression  to  a  despairing  sen- 
timent, in  contemplating  the  outlook  of  society, 
when  he  declared  that  *' if  there  is  no  hope  of  a 
large  improvement  of  the  condition  of  the  greater 
part  of  the  human  family  ...  I  would  hail 
the  advent  of  some  kindly  comet  which  should 
sweep  the  whole  affair  away,  as  a  desirable  con- 
summation." And  this  is  the  despair  of  every 
non-Christian  philosophy  or  religion  in  the  world. 
Evil  cannot  be  removed  by  revolutionary  process. 
There  are  no  potentialities  within  that,  unaided, 
can  work  a  reformation.  Sin  cannot  be  civilized 
out  of  the  heart  and  life.     James  Russell  Lowell 


THE   MESSAGE   OF   MISSIONS.  1 77 

has  aptly  said:    "  There  is  a  poison  in  the  sores  of 
Lazarus,  against  which  Dives  has  no  antidote." 

With  this  marvelous  success  of  evangelism, 
and  its  spirit  of  daring  enterprise,  we  have  demon- 
strated the  best  method  of  answering  present  day 
unbelief.  The  proclamation  of  truth,  accompa- 
nied as  it  has  been  in  all  lands,  by  signs  and  won- 
ders, gives  triumphant  answer  to  the  boldest  skep- 
ticism. While  modern  doubt  is  shifting  its  point 
of  attack,  the  faithful  preaching  of  Christ  contin- 
ues to  work  miracles  of  grace.  And  these  are  an 
end  of  argument.  There  is  no  appeal  from  a  fact. 
A  redeemed  soul  is  worth  more  than  a  volume  on 
apologetics.  A  livingLazarus,  four  days  dead,  is  an 
infallible  proof  of  resurrection  power.  The  "Anal- 
ogy "  of  Bishop  Butler  was  a  masterful,  unanswera- 
able  argument;  but  the  great  revival  which  followed 
its  publication,  under  the  ministry  of  Whitfield,  the 
Wesleys,  and  others,  with  its  thousands  of  spiritual 
miracles,  put  to  flight  the  armies  of  aliens.  No 
charge  against  the  insufficiency  of  revelation,  or  the 
inadequacy  of  Christian  truth,  or  the  inaccuracy 
of  the  Christian  Scriptures,  or  the  incredibility  of 
Christianity's  claims,  can  stand  before  the  demon- 
strations of  its  power — the  millions  in  all  lands, 
redeemed  thereby,  all  testifying  that  they  do  know. 

This  indicates  the  true  apologetic  function  of  the 
12 


178  MODERN  MISSIONS. 

preacher.  He  should  not  make  the  pulpit  a  pro- 
fessor's chair,  nor  follow  lines  of  discussion  before 
an  ordinary  congregation  that  belong  to  the  pages 
of  a  Review.  He  more  completely  refutes  infidelity 
by  preaching  Christ,  the  Saviour  of  the  world. 

Modern  Missions  have  confirmed  the  faith  of  the 
Church  in  man'' s  common  nature,  in  the  unity  of 
the  race.  The  readiness  with  which  all  races,  un- 
der their  multifarious  civilizations,  apprehend  the 
gospel,  and  the  identity  of  its  effects  upon  person- 
al and  community  life,  reenforce  the  doctrine  of 
man's  common  origin.  ''  God  has  made  of  one 
blood  all  nations  of  men  to  dwell  on  the  face  of 
the  earth."  The  distinguished  Principal  of  Man- 
chester College  thus  clearly  states  the  doctrine  in 
a  singularly  felicitous  sentence:  "  If  men  differ  in 
color,  in  blood,  and  in  speech,  they  may  still  rec- 
ognize common  manhood,  but  as  a  matter  of  his- 
tory common  manhood  has  never  been  recognized 
save  through  common  religion,  and  the  only  com- 
mon religion  which  has  m.ade  men  recognize  their 
common  humanity  has  been  that  of  Christ." 

Christianity  has  but  one  law  of  life,  and  one 
standard  of  moral  judgment  for  the  high  and  the 
low,  the  wise  and  the  unwise,  the  Greek  and  the 
barbarian.  In  intellectual  merit  there  are  wide- 
distinctions,  but  the  natural  conscience  of  the  race 


THE   MESSAGE   OF   MISSIONS.  1 79 

is  about  on  the  same  level.  The  same  standard  is 
used  in  the  moral  appraisement  of  Anglo-Saxon 
and  Fijian.  Before  the  moral  law  there  is  no  dis- 
tinction of  race,  age,  or  nationality.  Mr.  Watkin- 
son,  in  his  Fernly  Lecture,  uses  this  language: 
*'  In  the  vast  congregation  assembled  on  Sabbath 
morning  in  the  church  of  God  throughout  the 
earth  all  kinds  of  distinctions  exist — distinctions  of 
intellectual  power,  of  culture,  rank,  wealth,  age, 
country,  calling.  But  when  the  Commandments 
are  read,  all  these  distinctions  are  ignored;  a  ma- 
jestic standard  of  conduct  is  exalted  with  stern  sim- 
plicity, and  by  this  standard  all  alike  must  test 
themselves  in  the  presence  of  God ;  no  distinction 
exists  except  that  of  moral  good  and  evil." 

Now  out  of  this  unity  comes  moral  fraternity. 
A  common  humanity  necessitates  a  universal  broth- 
erhood. Of  the  witness  of  Christian  Missions  to 
this  marvelous  fact  of  the  Christian  religion,  Dr. 
Fairbairn  says:  '*  It  has  made  the  civilized  man 
feel  that  he  and  the  savage  are  of  one  blood,  that 
the  savage  is  as  dear  to  God  as  he  is,  has  as  vast 
capabilities,  as  boundless  promise  of  being  as  his 
own  nature  can  boast.  The  religion  that  has  cre- 
ated this  sense  of  kinship  and  duty  is  the  true 
mother  of  man's  faith  in  human  fraternity." 

Modern  Missions  have  led   the   Church   to   an 


1 8o  M  ODERK   MISSIONS . 

awakened  study  of  the  doctrine  of  the  Holy  Spirit. 
An  Anglican  writer  says:  *'  The  theology  of  the 
third  Person  is  a  department  of  sacred  science  in 
which  the  Church  of  England  is  confessedly 
weak."  Dr.  Pope  says:  *' Indistinctness  has  pre- 
vailed on  this  subject  in  much  of  the  theology  of 
earlier  and  later  times.  The  offices  of  the  Holy 
Ghost  have  been  obscured  by  exaggerations  of  sac- 
ramental efficiency,  and  his  personal  relations  to 
the  believer  have  been  undervalued  in  many  per- 
sons." Smeaton,  an  English  writer,  says:  *'  Ger- 
many seems  to  have  abandoned  this  whole  field, 
as  if  it  were  no  longer  worthy  of  cultivation. 
There  is  not  a  single  work  in  the  whole  compass 
of  German  literature  on  the  office  and  work  of  the 
Holy  Spirit,  if  we  except  the  unfinished  work  of 
Kahnis." 

The  mighty  signs  of  the  century  have  brought 
the  Church  back  to  a  new  interpretation  of  the 
presence  and  office  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  The  mira- 
cles of  the  mission  field — the  Pentecosts  reported 
from  every  land — have  said  to  the  Church:  '*  This 
is  that  which  hath  been  spoken  by  the  prophet 
Joel;  And  it  shall  be  in  the  last  days,  saith  God,  I 
will  pour  forth  of  my  Spirit  upon  all  flesh: 
and  it  shall  be,  that  whosoever  shall  call  on  the 
name  of  the  Lord  shall  be  saved," 


THE  MESSAGE  OF  MISSIONS.  l8l 

These  show  that  the  bestowment  of  the  Spirit  is 
not  the  gift  of  a  priest,  but  the  act  of  God.  And 
it  is  reasserted  and  abundantly  illustrated  in  the 
history  of  Missions.  The  debased  elevated,  can- 
nibals cured  of  their  taste  for  human  flesh,  souls 
redeemed,  nations  transformed,  attest  the  presence 
and  omnipotence  of  the  Holy  Spirit. 

To  ascribe  these  to  civilization,  evolution,  etc., 
v^ould  be  to  "  blaspheme  against  the  Holy  Ghost." 
The  history  of  Missions  is  the  history  of  the  Holy 
Spirit  in  the  Church. 

The  Church  has  been  given  a  clearer  and  w^ider 
recognition  of  the  Lordshif  of  Jesus  Christ, 

The  history  of  Missions  has  been  a  successive 
unfolding  and  unveiling  of  the  Son  of  God  in  his 
power  and  glory,  a  series  of  epiphanies  of  the 
risen  and  reigning  Lord.  His  presence  has  been 
the  one  distinctive  and  glorious  fact  in  the  prog- 
ress of  the  century.  And,  as  Bishop  Westcott 
says:  "  If  anything  can  make  us  feel  the  nobility 
of  life,  it  must  be  that  in  Christ  we  are  enabled  to 
recognize  in  the  whole  course  of  history  a  majestic 
spectacle  of  the  action  of  divine  love  in  which  no 
failures  and  no  willfulness  of  men  can  obliterate 
the  signs  and  the  promises  of  a  presence  of  God." 

The  fuller  recognition  of  Christ's  kingship  is  a 
great   gain.      It    means   more   perfect  obedience, 


l82  MODERN  MISSIONS. 

readier  service,  more  cheerful  endurance,  and 
more  trustful  waiting.  Attention  has  been  called 
to  the  significant  fact  that  the  first  word  uttered  by 
the  awakened  Saul  of  Tarsus  was  '"Lord,"  and 
that  word  was  the  keynote  of  his  splendid  apos- 
tolic career. 

Christ's  ministry  is  a  -personal  ministry.  His 
government  is  a  personal  government.  He  takes 
personal  command  of  the  Church,  and  is  himself 
the  Great  Captain  of  the  world's  salvation.  '*Lo, 
I  am  with  you  alway,  even  unto  the  end  of  the 
world."  His  immediate  and  constant  presence  is 
pledged.  Of  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles  Canon  Norris 
has  said:  ''  Surely  one  great  purpose  of  this  book 
is  to  teach  us  to  recognize  the  personal  govern- 
ment of  Christ  throughout  his  Church's  history. 
Of  that  Church  history  of  eighteen  centuries,  could 
it  be  written  truly,  this  record  of  the  first  thirty 
years  would  be  seen  to  be  but  a  specimen  page — 
the  first  of  many  pages,  of  which  the  last  is  not 
yet  written.  When  the  last  page  comes  to  be  writ- 
ten, then  shall  we  understand,  as  clearly  as  the 
writer  of  this  page  understood,  the  fulfillment  of 
Christ's  promise:  '  Lo,  I  am  with  you  alway, 
even  unto  the  end  of  the  world.'  The  history  of 
Missions  give  '  many  infallible  proofs  '  of  Christ's 
presence  and  personal  administration." 


THE  MESSAGE   OF   MISSIONS.  183 

Dr.  Gordon  thus  happily  states  the  doctrine  of 
our  Lord's  personal  and  perpetual  presence  in  the 
Church:  "  By  Christ's  ascent  to  the  Father,  and 
the  Spirit's  descent  upon  the  disciples,  the  Church 
exchanged  the  presence  of  the  Lord  for  his  omni- 
presence ;  so  that  whereas  in  the  time  of  his  man- 
ifestation in  the  flesh  he  could  be  present  only  in 
one  place  at  a  time,  in  the  time  of  his  manifesta- 
tion in  the  Spirit  he  could  be  present  in  all  places 
at  all  times."  Really  the  promise,  "  Lo,  I  am 
with  you  alway,  even  unto  the  end  of  the  world, '^ 
is  without  significance,  if  not  an  assurance  that 
in  an  exceptional  sense,  in  a  very  special  manner, 
the  omnipresent  Lord  will  accompany  the  brave 
souls  who  go  out  in  his  name  to  disciple  the  na- 
tions." 

Modern  Missions  have  taught  the  Church  new 
lessons  in  the  doctrine  and  duty  of  -prayer.  Upon 
no  other  duty  and  privilege  do  the  Scriptures  be- 
stow so  frequent  mention  and  lay  such  sacred  em- 
phasis. It  is  the  most  potential  factor  in  personal 
life  and  the  most  efficient  aid  in  spiritual  service. 
To  it  the  largest  promises  are  made.  We  are  as- 
sured that  the  divine  response  will  only  be  meas- 
ured by  our  asking.  Dr.  Cyrus  Hamlin,  a  veteran 
missionary,  says:  "When  Christians  are  knock- 
ing God  is  always  opening  doors." 


184  MODERN  MISSIONS. 

Missions  have  certainly  intensified  and  fostered 
a  spirit  of  -pi-ayer.  Indeed,  the  history  of  modern 
Missions  is  the  history  of  answered  prayer.  The 
stupendous  undertaking  itself — in  view  of  the  vast- 
ness  of  the  field,  and  the  difficulties  to  be  removed 
— has  thrown  the  Church  back  upon  God.  There 
has  been  more  simple  reliance  upon  a  divine  arm, 
and  more  importunate  pleading  into  the  divine  ear. 
It  has  been  said  that  the  published  appeal  of  Jona- 
than Edwards  for  **  a  visible  union  of  God's  peo- 
ple in  extraordinary  pra3^er  "  was  itself  a  turning 
point  in  modern  history,  especially  in  modern  Mis- 
sions. Dr.  Pierson  states  the  inspiring  fact  of 
history  in  this  terse  and  striking  phrase:  **  There 
has  been  no  outpouring  of  the  Spirit  without  a  pre- 
vious outpouring  of  souls  to  God."  The  new  era 
of  world-wide  Missions  was  born  of  an  awakened 
spirit  of  earnest  prayer.  Over  a  Christian  and 
missionary  *'  Home  "  for  young  English- American 
women  in  Paris  are  these  words:  '^ Asked  of  God 
August  II,  18 y 4.;  Given  to  God  March  g,  iSgs'' 
What  thrilling  eloquence  in  those  brief  words ! 
But  such  inscriptions  might  be  placed  over  a  thou- 
sand doorways  in  the  mission  fields  of  the  world. 

From  Tahite  there  comes  an  inspiring  illustra- 
tion: For  sixteen  years  there  seemed  to  be  no 
promise  of  that  field,  no  return  for  the  expendi- 


THE   MESSAGE   OF   MISSIONS.  185 

ture  of  missionary  labor.  In  that  time  of  faithful 
toil  and  patient  waiting  there  was  but  one  conver- 
sion. Tribal  wars  raged,  horrid  rites  were  ob- 
served, disgusting  idolatries  were  almost  universal. 
The  directors  of  the  London  Missionary  Society 
were  discussing  the  advisability  of  withdrawing 
their  forces,  and  opening  work  in  a  more  prom- 
ising field.  But  some  vigorously  opposed  abandon- 
ment, believed  that  the  Holy  Spirit  would  yet  give 
them  rich  reward,  and  supported  their  faith  by 
largely  increased  personal  subscriptions.  A  season 
of  prayer  was  appointed.  Letters  of  encourage- 
ment were  sent  to  the  missionaries,  in  connection 
with  which  this  remarkable  coincidence,  or  rather 
providence,  occurred:  ^^  While  the  vessel  was  on 
her  way  to  carry  these  letters  to  Tahiti  another 
ship  -passed  her  in  mid  ocean  which  conveyed  to 
Great  Britain  news  that  idolatry  was  overthrown 
in  the  island^  and  bore  hack  to  London  the  rejected 
idols  of  the  people.  What  a  striking  fulfillment  of 
the  divine  promise:  ''  Before  they  call,  I  will  an- 
swer ;  and  while  they  are  yet  speaking,  I  will  hear ! " 
And  instances  even  more  remarkable  might  be 
multiplied  a  thousandfold. 

Missions  have  enriched  the  spiritual  life  of  the 
Church.  It  deepens  as  it  widens.  An  aggressive 
missionary  zeal  is  necessary  to  conserve   spiritual 


l86  MODERN  MISSIONS. 

life  at  home.  Wonderful  words  were  those  of  the 
venerable  Dr.  Duff,  Scotland's  missionary  hero: 
"The  Church  that  ceases  to  evangehze  will  soon 
cease  to  be  evangelical."  They  accord  perfectly 
with  that  obverse  statement  of  Prof.  Bowne,  in  his 
«'  Logic  of  Religious  Belief :  "  "  Within  the  Church 
also,  periods  of  rationalizing  have  always  been  pe- 
riods of  dearth  and  death."  And  both  are  sug- 
gestive comments  on  the  law  of  spiritual  develop- 
ment stated  by  our  Lord  himself:  '*  To  every  one 
that  hath  shall  be  given,  and  he  shall  have  abun- 
dance :  but  from  him  that  hath  not  shall  be  taken 
away  even  that  which  he  hath."  And  all  history 
bears  testimony  to  that  momentous  declaration. 
The  evangelizing  spirit  must  be  kept  warm  and 
glowing,  or  indifferentism  and  deadness  will  en- 
sue. A  rationalizing  pulpit  preaches  a  lifeless 
gospel. 

Those  are  suggestive  and  true  words  of  the 
great  Chillingworth :  "Christianity  is  a  strange 
commodity.  The  more  you  export,  the  more  you 
have  for  home  consumption."  It  is  a  law  of  spir- 
itual life  that  he  that  giveth  shall  receive  more 
abundantly,  that  "he  that  watereth  shall  be  wa- 
tered also  himself." 

The  great  Dr.  Andrew  Fuller,  as  quoted  by  Dr. 
John  Harris,  thus  wrote  to  a  friend: 


THE   MESSAGE   OF   MISSIONS.  187 

There  was  a  period  of  my  ministry  marked  by  the  most 
pointed  systematic  effort  to  comfort  my  serious  people;  but 
the  more  I  tried  to  comfort  them  the  more  they  complained  of 
doubts  and  darkness.  ...  I  knew  not  what  to  do  nor  what 
to  think,  for  I  had  done  my  best  to  comfort  the  mourners  in 
Zion.  At  this  time  it  pleased  God  to  direct  my  attention  to  the 
claims  of  the  perishing  heathen  in  India.  I  felt  that  we  had 
been  living  for  ourselves,  and  not  caring  for  their  souls.  I 
spoke  as  I  felt.  My  serious  people  wondered  and  wept  over 
their  past  inattention  to  the  subject.  .  .  .  We  met  and 
prayed  for  the  heathen;  met  and  considered  what  could  be 
done  among  ourselves  for  them;  met  and  did  what  we  could. 
And,  while  all  this  was  going  on,  the  lamentations  ceased.  The 
sad  became  cheerful,  and  the  desponding  calm.  And  I,  instead 
of  having  to  study  how  to  comfort  my  flock,  was  myself  com- 
forted by  them.  They  were  drawn  out  of  themselves.  God 
blessed  them  while  they  tried  to  be  a  blessing. 

Missions  have  demonstrated  the  great  principle 
of  Christ's  kingdom,  so  clearly  enunciated,  that 
we  get  from  the  Lord  as  we  give  to  the  Lord. 
"There  is  that  scattereth,  and  yet  increaseth." 
This  is  not  a  premium  upon  a  low,  commercial 
aspect  of  the  gospel,  no  assurance  that  an  in- 
vested penny  will  return  us  a  pound;  but  the 
gain  comes  in  a  larger  manhood  and  in  richer 
and  increased  spiritual  life,  though  history  testi- 
fies that  an  investment  in  Missions  has  brought 
large  commercial  returns.  The  mission  to  the 
Sandwich  Islands  is  said  to  have  cost  $5,000,000, 
while  the   trade  with  that    country    amounted    to 


1 88  MODERN  MISSIONS. 

$16,000,000  in  six  years — making  the  interest  for 
two  years  exceed  the  entire  principal.  The  great 
gain  is  in  enlarged ^ower  at  home. 

A  Church  cannot  live  on  its  history.  Serene 
contentment  with  the  past  is  sure  prophecy  of  de- 
cadence in  the  future.  It  emasculates  spiritual 
manhood,  weakens  the  inspirations  of  constraining 
love.  What  a  striking  illustration  have  we  in  the 
Copts  of  Egypt!  Once  numerous  and  powerful, 
standing  bravely  against  Mohammedan  cruelty  and 
tyranny — adding  some  of  the  noblest  names  to  the 
martyrology  of  the  centuries — they  have  ceased 
to  be  aggressive,  complacently  satisfied  with  the 
past,  until  they  have  grown  weak  in  numbers 
and  weaker  in  all  the  elements  of  Christian  life 
and  character. 

The  Church  lives  as  it  imparts  life.  It  strength- 
ens as  it  expands.  Its  life  deepens  as  it  spreads. 
''A  Christianity  which  is  not  aggressive  becomes 
regressive.  A  state  of  inaction  sinks  into  a  state 
of  degeneration.  A  reclining  Church  soon  be- 
comes a  declining  Church."  And  again  it  has 
been  said  that  *'a  Christianity  which  simply  nour- 
ishes itself  soon  loses  its  power." 

With  the  extension  of  Christ's  kingdom  into  the 
distant  regions  and  among  the  most  degraded  peo- 
ples, additional  emphasis  is  given  to  another  great 


THE   MESSAGE  OF  MISSIONS.  1 89 

Christian  truth,  that  service  to  man  is  consecration 
to  God;  and  that  really  the  only  way  to  serve  God 
is  to  help  man.  ''  He  serves  Jesus  best  who  serves 
the  neediest  of  men  in  their  greatest  need,"  are 
the  discriminating  words  of  a  great  thinker.  The 
divine  exhortation  is:  "Bear  ye  one  another's 
burdens,  and  so  fulfill  the  law  of  Christ."  And 
the  law  of  Christ  was  eminently  the  law  of  his  own 
life.  It  inspired  his  every  parable,  it  wrought  his 
every  miracle,  it  directed  his  every  journey,  it 
commanded  his  every  thought,  it  consumed  his 
every  energy,  it  accomplished  his  tragic  death, 
and  ultimated  in  his  glorious  resurrection  and 
transcendent,  perpetual  priesthood.  God,  who  is 
self-existent  and  infinite  in  his  perfections,  has  no 
lack  that  we  can  supply,  has  no  need  that  ap- 
peals to  our  sympathy.  But  the  needs  of  men  are 
his  needs,  their  sorrows  are  his  heaviest  burdens. 
By  ministering  to  them,  we  serve  God. 

And  how  this  law  of  service  dignifies  human 
life  and  glorifies  our  Christian  religions.  Bud- 
dha's boast  was:  '*  I  am  no  man's  servant." 
Jesus  said:  *'  If  any  man  would  be  great  among 
you,  let  him  be  the  servant  of  all."  As  illustra- 
tive of  this  Christly  spirit,  how  beautiful  is  that 
story  of  Baron  Von  Welz,  the  forerunner  of 
Swartz  and  Carey,  who,  renouncing  his  titles  and 


190  MODERN  MISSIONS. 

estates,  went  to  Dutch  Guiana,  and  after  a  time 
filled  a  missionary's  grave.  He  said:  *'What  to 
me  is  the  title  *  well  born,'  when  I  am  one  born 
again  in  Christ?  What  is  to  me  the  title  *  lord,' 
when  I  desire  to  be  a  servant  of  Christ?  What  to 
me  to  be  called  *  your  Grace,'  when  I  have  need  of 
God's  grace,  help,  and  succor?  All  these  vanities 
I  will  away  with,  and  everything  besides  I  will  lay 
at  the  feet  of  Jesus,  my  dearest  Lord,  that  I  may 
have  no  hindrance  in  serving  him  aright?" 

The  history  of  Christian  Missions  has  been  a  di- 
vine illustration  of  this  great  law  of  life. 

Missions  have  brought  the  Christian  world  into 
closer  union.  A  distinguishing  and  happy  feature 
of  modern  Church  life — '*a  sign  alike  of  rejuve- 
nescence and  of  ripening" — is  the  awakened  in- 
stinct of  oneness  among  the  Churches  of  Christ, 
and  the  articulate  craving  for,  and  the  earnest  feel- 
ing after,  some  feasible  manifestation  of  that  one- 
ness in  the  face  of  an  unbelieving,  warring  world. 
Children  of  the  same  Father,  brethren  of  the  same 
Elder  Brother,  with  the  same  spiritual  blood  flow- 
ing in  our  veins,  animated  by  the  same  impulse, 
journeying  to  the  same  home,  temples  of  the  same 
Holy  Ghost,  we  have  fellowship  with  each  other. 
This  fellowship  oversteps  the  narrow  bounds  of 
land  and  sea,  and  overleaps  the  lines  of  race,  sect, 


THE   MESSAGE   OF   MISSIONS.  I9I 

party,  and  nation.  It  merges  "  the  clan  into  the 
country,"  the  race  into  the  oneness  of  the  world's 
blessed  brotherhood,  and  the  sect  into  the  univer- 
sal kingdom  of  our  one  Lord  and  Saviour.  And 
with  this  all-embracing  and  constraining  love  there 
comes  a  sense  of  divine  indebtedness  to  the  wide 
^orld — to  Greek  and  barbarian,  to  the  wise  and 
unwise. 

To  this  growing  spirit  of  Christian  comity  and 
unity  the  modern  missionary  movement  has  made 
the  largest  contribution.  In  the  presence  of  a 
common  foe  Christians  stand  close  together.  Mi- 
nor differences  are  forgotten,  points  of  agreement 
are  multiplied  and  emphasized,  and  the  unity  for 
which  our  Lord  prayed  is  seen  to  be  the  essential 
condition  of  the  world's  evangeHzation.  His 
prayer,  ''  That  they  all  may  be  one,"  was  in  order 
''that  the  world  may  believe  that  thou  hast  sent 
me." 


LECTURE  VL 


LESSONS  FROM  SOME  MASTER  MISSION- 
ARIES. 
13 


VI. 

LESSON'S  FROM  SOME  A/ASTER  MISSIONARIES. 

THE  characters  of  the  apostles  are  as  instructive 
as  their  acts;  their  Hves,  as  inspiring  as  their 
labors.  What  God  wrought  in  them  is  as  impor- 
tant a  lesson  as  what  God  wrought  through  them. 
We  want  to  see  the  messenger  while  we  hear  his 
message,  and  the  character  of  the  messenger  is 
often  the  best  commentary  on  his  message.  So, 
back  of  the  Acts,  marvelous  though  they  be  in  our 
eyes,  we  fix  most  eager  gaze  on  the  apostles  them- 
selves. And  as  we  study  the  men  we  better  un- 
derstand their  wonderful  words  and  mighty  deeds. 
Probably  the  grandest  product  of  the  first  Chris- 
tian century  was  the  majestic  and  many-sided 
character  of  the  apostle  Paul.  Everywhere,  his 
words  and  works — his  inspiring  sermons  and  apos- 
tolic achievements — are  overshadowed  by  his  tow- 
ering personality.  We  trace  with  intense  eager- 
ness the  track  of  his  missionary  movements,  and 
recount  with  thrilling  interest  the  marvelous  inci- 
dents of  his  providential  history,  but  never  for  a 
moment  lose  sight  of  the  massive  figure  of  the 
masterful  leader  himself.     And  all  the  elements  in 


196  MODERN  MISSIONS. 

that  great  character  are  of  divine  development. 
God  developed  him,  while  he  used  him.  He  is 
the  Holy  Spirit's  product  of  a  missionary  career. 

So  modern  Missions,  under  the  administration 
of  that  same  Holy  Spirit,  have  developed  great 
characters.  While  the  heathen  have  been  re- 
deemed, the  laborers  have  been  ennobled.  The 
message  has  transfigured  the  messengers.  The 
great  field,  which  is  the  world,  has  not  only  pro- 
duced sheaves  of  heathen  converts,  but  harvests 
of  heroic  character  and  apostolic  achievement. 
The  workers  have  been  proven  while  the  work  has 
prospered.  It  is  the  aim  of  this  lecture  to  study 
the  characters  and  careers  of  some  pioneer  mis- 
sionaries of  the  century,  and  try  to  ascertain  the 
lessons  that  they  were  designed  to  teach  the 
Church. 

Renan  said  that  **  the  true  miracle  of  nascent 
Christianity  was  the  spirit  of  Jesus  strongly  grafted 
into  his  disciples:  the  spirit  of  sweetness,  of  self- 
abnegation,  of  forgetfulness  of  the  present;  that 
unique  pursuit  of  inward  joy  which  kills  ambi- 
tion." That  spirit,  grafted  into  Christians  of  this 
day  and  in  every  land,  is  perpetuating  «*the  true 
miracle  of  nascent  Christianity."  And  in  no  single 
class  of  Christians  is  that  spirit  so  '*  strongly 
grafted,"  and  by  whom  '*  the  true  miracle  of  nas- 


LESSONS  FROM  MASTER  MISSIONARIES.        I97 

cent  Christianity"   is  more  wonderfully  wrought 
than  the  missionaries  of  the  various  fields. 

Mr.  Lecky,  in  his  ''  History  of  European  Mor- 
als," has  said:  "  One  great  cause  of  the  success 
of  Christianity  was  that  it  produced  more  heroic 
actions  and  formed  more  upright  men  than  any 
other  creed."  And  to  this  crowning  demonstra- 
tion of  Christianity  modern  missionaries  have  made 
the  wealthiest  contributions.  Their  names  have 
become  the  synonyms  for  the  highest  virtues  and 
the  noblest  achievements.  For  lofty  character, 
undaunted  courage,  quenchless  zeal,  entire  self- 
abnegation,  and  perfect  consecration  to  one  su- 
preme beneficent  purpose,  there  are  no  nobler 
illustrations  than  the  men  and  women  of  moral 
greatness  and  apostolic  devotion,  whose  lives  have 
been  made  a  freewill  offering  to  the  Christless  na- 
tions. Dr.  John  Harris  did  not  hesitate  to  say 
that  they  had  *'  served  and  saved  the  character  of 
the  Church."  Dr.  Lawrence,  a  high  authority, 
who  spent  years  in  a  personal  study  of  mission 
fields,  felt  constrained  to  say  that  **the  consecra- 
ted list  of  the  heroes  of  faith  and  the  saints  of  love 
whose  light  shines  most  conspicuous  in  their  march 
across  the  lands  and  the  ages  is  more  thronged 
with  the  names  of  missionaries  than  with  those  of 
any  other  class."     And  having  m3^self  inspected 


198  MODERN  MISSIONS. 

the  work  in  many  lands,  I  most  heartily  agree 
with  the  suggestion  that  the  work  itself  brings  com- 
pensation and  blessings  in  the  way  of  character 
and  grace  which  there  is  no  space  to  mention. 
Indeed,  Theodore  Parker  went  so  far  as  to  say 
that,  '*  Had  the  whole  missionary  work  resulted  in 
nothing  more  than  the  building  up  of  such  a  char- 
acter as  Adoniram  Judson,  it  would  be  worth  all 
it  has  cost." 

Religion  is  tested  not  only  by  the  **  fitness  of  its 
conceptions,"  but  by  '•Hhe  force  of  its  msfira- 
tions'^  Behind  the  great  ideas — the  doctrines — 
the  truths  of  religion  must  be  its  spirit — its  spirit 
that  throbs  with  life  and  has  the  quiver  of  power. 
This  is  the  measure  of  its  value  and  virtue  as  a  re- 
forming and  transforming  power.  Not  every  cor- 
rect conception  has  the  force  of  an  inspiration; 
not  every  sublime  truth  stirs  the  soul  to  action. 
They  touch  no  emotions,  they  awaken  no  desires, 
they  compel  no  heroic  endeavor.  The  doctrine 
of  gravity  is  absolutely  true  and  universally  ac- 
cepted, but  has  no  power  to  kindle  enthusiasm. 
So  there  are  religions  that  are  avowedly  limited, 
with  no  spirit  of  enterprise  or  power  of  propaga- 
tion; and  yet  others  that  seek  universal  exten- 
sion, but  have  exhausted  the  force  of  their  inspi- 
ration. 


LESSONS   FROM   MASTER  MISSIONARIES.         I99 

But  Christianity  is  essentially  missionary.  Its 
very  words  are  spirit  and  life.  It  not  only  grati- 
fies and  satisfies;  it  inspires.  We  no  sooner  em- 
brace it  than  we  have  a  joyous  impulse  to  commu- 
nicate it.  Interest  in  others  is  enkindled.  And 
the  growth  of  this  spiritual  concern  for  the  unsaved 
is  the  measure  of  our  religion.  The  love  that 
prompted  our  Lord's  coming  constrains  our  go- 
ing. Under  its  impulse  we  proclaim  the  truth  he 
revealed,  we  propagate  what  he  preached,  we 
continue  what  he  began.  On  the  contrary,  un- 
concern for  others  is  an  impeachment  of  the  Chris- 
tian's faith,  an  abrogation  of  the  Christian's  com- 
mission, a  reversal  of  his  sacred  mission.  So  a 
true  religion  must  not  only  teach  us  what  to  do, 
but  implant  the  inspiring  force  which  will  create 
the  desire  to  do  it.  **  Cold  illumination  is  not 
enough;  the  fire  must  be  burning  upon  the  altar." 
Religion  must  inspire  as  well  as  instruct. 

Now,  I  do  not  think  it  too  much  to  say  that  the 
inspiring  ioYCQ^  of  Christianity  has  been  most  strik- 
ingly displayed  in  the  lives  and  labors  of  Chris- 
tian missionaries.  Their  tender  solicitude  for  the 
Christless  millions,  their  divine  eagerness  to  fly  to 
their  relief,  their  unremitting  labors  to  arouse  the 
conscience  of  the  Church,  their  sublime  courage 
which  no  dangers  could  arrest,  their  heroic  forti- 


:iOO  MODERK  MISSIONS. 

tude  which  no  privations  could  exhaust,  and  their 
conquering  faith  which  the  shadows  of  the  grave 
could  not  obscure,  are  the  world's  grandest  ex- 
pression of  the  dynamics  of  Christianity.  No  dis- 
appointments or  difficulties  have  for  a  moment 
checked  their  efforts  or  curbed  their  restless  spir- 
its. We  discern  the  inspiring  force  in  St.  Paul's 
life  as  we  follow  him  in  his  tireless  missionary 
wanderings  on  land  and  sea.  Amid  poverty  and 
persecution  he  labored  with  unremitting  zeal  to 
bring  men  to  Jesus.  So  stirred  was  his  great  soul 
by  this  inspiring  force,  and  so  enraptured  by  the 
vision  of  the  field,  that  he  arose  and  exclaimed: 
*'/  ca7i  but  'preach.^''  The  full  heart  and  fired 
brain  had  to  speak.  The  unlocked  fountain  would 
flow,  even  if  it  had  to  cut  a  channel  for  the  ma- 
jestic sweep  of  its  liberated  waters.  Again  he 
said,  as  if  in  seeming  explanation  of  his  fervent 
and  restless  zeal:  **  The  love  of  Christ  constraineth 
me."  And  when  opposition  grew  more  intense, 
and  the  storm  of  persecution  began  to  beat  upon 
him  in  pitiless  fury,  sustained  by  an  unshaken  pur- 
pose and  impelled  by  this  divine  desire  for  the 
world's  redemption,  he  cried  out,  above  the  roar 
of  the  tempest:  **  None  of  these  things  move  me.'' 
It  was  intimate  acquaintance  with  his  Lord,  and 
profound,  prayerful  study  of  the  desperate  needs 


LESSONS  FROM  MASTER  MISSIONARIES.        201 

of  the  world,  that  lifted  the  great  apostle  into  mas- 
terful leadership  and  fired  his  soul  with  the  spirit 
of  glorious  conquest.  And  that  same  sublime  pas- 
sion, that  same  disinterested  love  of  humanity, 
has  been  reincarnated  in  the  missionary  heroes 
and  heroines  of  this  missionary  century.  To  all 
lands  they  have  eagerly  gone  in  this  Pauline  spirit, 
attempting  great  things  for  God  and  expecting 
great  things  from  God. 

So  Christlike  have  been  their  lives  and  so  divine 
the  virtues  they  have  illustrated  that  the  names  of 
great  missionaries  have  become  synonymous  with 
certain  Christian  graces.  The  eloquent  Dr.  John 
Harris  thus  describes  the  characteristics  of  some 
noble  names: 

Eliot,  Zeisberger,  and  Brainerd  are  but  other  names  for  in- 
defatigable labor  and  enterprise,  and  self-consviming  ardor. 
We  think  of  Swartz,  and  the  might  of  character.  The  ac- 
complished youth,  panting  to  live  for  Christ  in  distant  lands, 
but  derided  as  a  visionary,  thinks  of  Martyn  and  takes  courage. 
Pious  and  disinterested  poverty  reads  of  Carey,  and  emerges 
from  its  humble  cell  to  perform  labors  vv^hich  excite  the  devout 
thanksgiving  of  the  Church.  Faith  looks  at  the  origin  and 
early  history  of  the  Moravian  Mission,  and,  undismayed  by  the 
scantiness  of  her  human  resources,  girds  up  the  loins  of  her 
mind,  and  addresses  herself  to  her  task  afresh.  Their  biogra- 
phy is  creating  for  the  Church  a  literature  of  its  own.  Their 
example  is  reproducing  itself  in  a  second  race.  To  the  influ- 
ence of  Brainerd  the  Church  is  chiefly  indebted,  under  God, 


202  MODERN  MISSIONS. 

for  the  labors  of  Milne.  The  pious  father  gives  their  names  to 
his  sons  as  a  title  of  excellence  and  an  incitement  to  attain  it. 
Their  zeal  for  God  has  kindled  a  fire  at  which  numbers  are 
lighting  their  torches.  And  thus,  in  various  ways,  have  they 
given  ardor  to  holy  activity,  and  multiplied  the  power  of  truth; 
while  the  Church  below  unites  with  the  Church  above  in  glo- 
rifying God  in  them. 

One  assurance  has  been  given  fresh  emphasis 
in  the  history  of  modern  Missions :  that  the  Holy 
Spirit  as  distinctly  calls  and  anoints  for  service  to- 
day as  he  designated  and  sent  forth  apostles  in  the 
early  Church.  The  history  of  apostolic  Missions 
opens  with  these  words:  "The  Holy  Ghost  said, 
Separate  me  Barnabas  and  Saul  for  the  work 
whereunto  I  have  called  them.  ...  So  they, 
being  sent  forth  by  the  Holy  Ghost,  departed  unto 
Seleucia;  and  from  thence  they  sailed  to  Cyprus.'' 
And  in  the  same  way  and  by  the  same  authorita- 
tive voice  the  Holy  Ghost  has  separated  and  sent 
forth  missionaries  into  the  world.  Barnabas  and 
Saul  were  not  more  divinely  anointed  and  appoint- 
ed than  were  Coke  and  Carey  and  Calvert.  With- 
out discussing  the  nature  of  this  call  and  the  man- 
ner of  its  communication,  without  inquiring  into 
the  * '  mysterious  interworkings  of  the  Spirit  of 
God  and  the  spirit  of  man,"  I  simply  state  the 
fact  that  the  Holy  Ghost's  oversight  of  the  Church 
is  in   nothing  more  manifest  than  in  his  distinct 


LESSONS   FROM  MASTER   MISSIONARIES.         203 

designation  and  sending  forth  of  laborers  in  the 
harvest  fields  of  the  world. 

Another  fact  attests  the  purpose  and  presence 
of  the  Holy  Spirit  in  modern  Missions :  the  marvel- 
ous adaptation  of  the  workers  to  the  work. 

It  is  most  instructive  to  study  the  individualities 
and  gifts  of  the  special  agents  God  employed  in 
the  great  crises  of  the  world's  history.  The  qual- 
ities and  characteristics  of  the  men  as  much  indi- 
cate the  purpose  of  God  as  their  divine  call  to 
service.  When  the  abominations  of  Baal  worship 
were  to  be  overthrown  and  the  tyrannous  rule  of 
Ahab  broken,  God  needed  a  prophet  of  fire  and 
terror;  so  he  went  into  the  wilderness  for  Eli- 
jah the  Tishbite,  and  clothed  him  with  majesty 
almost  divine.  But  after  the  prophet  of  woe,  he 
needed  a  pastor,  after  the  destroyer  a  builder, 
after  the  shiver  of  earthquake  and  the  sweep  of 
storm  and  fire  he  wanted  a  "  still  small  voice;"  so 
he  threw  a  mantle  over  the  shoulders  of  the  gentle 
Elisha,  and  sent  him  out  to  comfort  the  people. 
And  when  the  fullness  of  time  had  come,  when 
immediate  preparation  was  to  be  made  for  the 
coming  of  the  King,  God  needed  not  '*  a  reed 
shaken  by  the  wind,"  not  *'  a  man  clothed  in  soft 
raiment,"  but  a  man  of  decision,  of  hardihood, 
of  lofty  courage;  so  he   called   John  the  Baptist 


204  MODERN  MISSIONS. 

and  sent  him  out  as  '*  a  voice  crying  in  the  wilder- 
ness." And  that  same  marvelous  discrimination 
of  the  Holy  Spirit  has  been  abundantly  illustrated 
in  the  call  and  appointment  of  modern  missionaries. 
It  was  not  by  accident  that  Adoniram  Judson 
went  to  Burmah,  instead  of  to  India,  as  he  had  first 
planned.  In  him  were  the  very  qualities  needed 
for  planting  the  gospel  and  founding  the  Church 
in  the  far-off  land.  And  how  perfectly  adapted 
was  William  Carey  to  the  stupendous  task  assigned 
him  by  the  Holy  Spirit  in  Northern  India !  A  man 
of  less  steady  nerve  would  have  yielded  to  fierce 
opposition,  and  a  heart  of  less  heroic  purpose 
would  have  gone  down  under  the  strain  of  hope- 
less waiting.  And  by  his  marvelous  power  of  ac- 
quiring language  he  soon  laid  the  foundations  for 
a  Christian  literature  in  India,  and  compelled  the 
East  India  Company,  which  at  first  refused  him 
civil  protection,  to  call  him  to  the  professorship  of 
Sanskrit  in  the  University  of  Calcutta.  In  every 
feature  of  his  character  there  was  a  special  pur- 
pose, and  every  event  of  his  life  was  a  divine  prov- 
idence. And  so  of  Morrison  in  China,  and  Mof- 
fat in  Africa,  and  John  Williams  in  the  South 
Seas,  and  Calvert  in  Fiji,  and  Mackay  in  Uganda, 
and  hundreds  of  others  whose  names  and  worthy 
deeds  are  written  in  the  chronicles  of  the  skies. 


LESSONS  FROM  MASTER  MISSIONARIES.        205 

And  modern  missionaries  have  shown  the  Christ 
spirit  in  their  eagerness  to  serve  God's  neediest 
children  in  their  greatest  need.  Paul,  the  model 
missionary,  gives  us  the  inspiring  motive  of  his 
wonderful  career  in  these  words,  addressed  to  the 
Church  at  Rome:  '*Yea,  so  have  I  strived  to 
preach  the  gospel,  7iot  where  Christ  was  named ^ 
lest  I  should  build  upon  another  man's  foundation; 
but  as  it  is  written,  To  whom  he  was  not  spoken 
of,  they  shall  see:  and  they  that  have  not  heard 
shall  understand."  He  had  a  divine  impatience 
to  save  the  lost.  His  ministry  was  to  the  most 
needy,  those  to  *' whom  Christ  was  not  named." 
The  more  desperate  and  neglected  their  condition, 
the  tenderer  was  his  solicitude,  and  the  more  in- 
tense his  desire  for  their  relief.  **TJie  wide  un- 
filled provinces  of  his  apostolate  ever  called 
him  on." 

That  example  has  been  emulated  in  every  mis- 
sion field.  Illustrations  might  be  given  by  the 
thousand  of  those  who  were  not  in  the  least  behind 
the  great  apostle  in  consuming  zeal  for  the  lowliest. 
Robert  Morrison,  the  apostle  of  China,  offered 
this  prayer:  **  My  desire  is,  O  Lord,  to  engage 
where  laborers  are  most  wanted."  William  Milne, 
twice  rejected  as  a  missionary,  asked  to  be  allowed 
to  accompany  Dr.  Morrison  to  China  as  his  serv- 


2o6  MODERN  MISSIONS. 

ant.  He  became  a  great  missionary,  and  is  spoken 
of  in  history  as  ''  that  excellent  man,  whose  talents 
were  surprising,  whose  labors  were  incessant, 
whose  whole  life  was  devoted  to  his  Saviour/' 
Pao,  who  became  the  apostle  of  the  island  of  Lifu, 
was  landed  upon  Mare,  forty  miles  away.  When 
he  saw  the  vessel  sailing  away,  and  impatient  of 
delay  in  reaching  his  field,  he  cried  aloud:  *'Do 
not  I  know  about  God?  O,  let  me  go  and  tell  the 
heathen  what  I  know!"  Then,  refusing  to  await 
the  return  of  the  ship,  he  sprang  into  a  canoe,  and 
with  a  Bible  in  one  hand  and  a  paddle  in  the  other 
**shot  like  an  arrow  over  the  crested  wave  of  a 
dangerous  sea."  With  one  companion,  he  reached 
the  island  in  safety,  and  began  his  evangelistic 
work.  In  twelve  years  cannibals  were  civilized, 
whole  villages  burned  their  idols,  and  nine  thou- 
sand persons  professed  faith  in  the  Son  of  God. 
And  hundreds  of  others  have  shown  like  heroic 
purpose  to  go  down  into  the  depths  of  the  world's 
sorest  need. 

The  Czarina  of  Russia,  widow  of  the  late  Em- 
peror, some  years  before  his  death,  uttered  words 
that  contain  a  beautiful  lesson.  In  speaking  of 
the  constant  peril  of  the  Czar's  life,  she  said:  **  I 
am  thankful  to  the  Nihilists  for  one  thing.  They 
have  made  me  love  my  husband  dearly.     Our  home 


LESSONS  FROM  MASTER   MISSIONARIES.        207 

life  has  become  so  different  since  I  began  to  look 
upon  him  as  though  he  were  under  sentence  of 
death.  You  can't  think  how  deeply  this  menaced 
state  attaches  me  to  him/'  Anxiety  for  his  per- 
sonal safety,  and  knowledge  of  the  fact  that  bitter 
malignity  shadowed  his  every  footstep,  and  ex- 
hausted all  human  and  inhuman  ingenuity  to  ac- 
complish his  death,  awoke  every  secret  and  latent 
sentiment  of  her  heart  toward  him.  It  opened  an 
undiscovered  fountain  of  affection,  and  made  the 
indifferent  bride  a  tender,  watchful,  loving  com- 
panion. She  became  to  him  more  a  wife  than  a 
queen. 

So  peril  increases  attachment.  It  awakens  and 
displays  the  abandon  of  love.  And  this  is  true  in 
things  spiritual.  The  soul's  danger  intensifies  con- 
cern. It  was  this  that  made  Jeremiah  a  prophet  of 
tears.  The  dreadful  sins  of  Israel,  and  the  doom 
which  he  knew  was  impending,  almost  broke  his 
sympathetic  heart.  In  his  agony  of  anxiety  he 
cried  out:  ^'  Is  there  no  balm  in  Gilead?  Is  there 
no  physician  there?"  And  it  is  this  knowledge  of 
the  degradation  and  doom  of  heathen  peoples  that 
has  written  the  brilliant  history  of  modern  mission- 
ar}^  heroism. 

Missionaries  have  given  the  Church  some  new 
lessons  in  -personal  consecration.     They  have  illus- 


208  MODERN  MISSIONS. 

trated  what  Paul  meant  when  he  said:  **  For  me 
to  live  is  Christ."  Count  Zinzendorf,  the  head  of 
the  Moravian  Church,  said:  'M  have  but  one  pas- 
sion, and  that  is  He,  only  He."  Henry  Martyn, 
who  fell  into  an  early  missionary  grave,  a  sacrifice 
to  his  consuming  zeal,  said:  *' I  see  no  business 
in  life  but  the  work  of  Jesus  Christ,  neither  do  I 
desire  any  employment  to  all  eternity  but  his  serv- 
ice." A  Moravian  missionary  sold  himself  into 
slavery  that  he  might  preach  the  gospel  more  ef- 
fectively to  the  slaves.  "That  is  what  incarna- 
tion means,"  says  a  distinguished  writer.  And  no 
apostle  of  all  the  ages  has  ever  exhibited  a  spirit 
of  more  perfect  self-abnegation  than  that  saintly 
missionary  in  India,  who  uttered  this  prayer:  '*  O 
Lord,  if  thou  canst  not  make  me  a  soul-winner 
here,  set  me  aside  from  this  calling,  and  appoint 
others  who  will  save  these  millions."  Such  self- 
debasement  in  order  to  the  redemption  of  the  na- 
tions demonstrates  the  fact,  as  the  author  of 
"  Ecce  Homo  !  "  happily  phrases  it,  that  *'  the  verb 
to  love  really  has  an  imperative  mood." 

A  missionary  to  the  Dark  Continent  gave  utter- 
ance to  this  noble  sentiment:  *'  I  think  it  is  with 
African  Missions  as  with  the  building  of  a  great 
bridge.  You  know  how  many  stones  have  to  be 
buried  in  the  earth,  all  unseen,  for  a  foundation. 


LESSONS   FROM   MASTER  MISSIONARIES.         2O9 

If  Christ  wants  me  to  be  one  of  the  unseen  stones, 
lying  in  an  African  grave,  I  am  content." 

So  perfect  has  been  the  consecration  of  these 
later  apostles,  and  so  obedient  their  ardent  spirits, 
that  they  have  readily  discerned  a  Providence  in 
the  most  discouraging  events  in  their  lives.  They 
have  found  in  a  seeming  disaster  the  divine  assur- 
ance of  speedier  and  grander  victory  by  another 
line  of  battle  and  a  different  character  of  cam- 
paign. The  humble  Moravians  thus  interpreted 
their  persecutions  and  consequent  dispersion. 
They  said:  '*  If  we  have  been  cast  out  and  ren- 
dered homeless,  it  must  be  by  the  divine  will  that 
we  shall  become  ambassadors  for  the  Master,  who 
had  not  where  to  lay  his  head."  And  so  with 
ready  and  cheerful  obedience  they  have  gone  to 
the  ends  of  the  earth.  Count  Zinzendorf  once 
said  to  a  young  Moravian  Christian:  **  Will  you 
go  to  Greenland?"  *'Yes."  ''When?"  ''To- 
morrow, if  the  shoemaker  can  finish  the  boots  I 
have  ordered." 

Another  characteristic  of  missionary  consecra- 
tion is  the  joy  of  service.  Constraining  love  be- 
comes a  sustaining  grace.  Labor  is  not  weariness, 
burdens  seem  light,  and  the  joy  of  service  elimi- 
nates every  element  of  sacrifice.  Brainerd  so 
loved  the  heathen  that  without  their  salvation 
14 


2IO  MODERN  MISSIONS. 

nothing  could  make  him  happy.  James  Calvert, 
though  in  labors  abundant  and  perils  oft  among 
the  cannibals  of  Fiji,  said:  ''  We  had  no  night  of 
toil;  God  was  with  us  from  the  first,  and  all 
along."  Dr.  John  Talmage,  of  China,  who  re- 
cently died  after  more  than  forty-five  years  of 
service,  said:  '*  The  missionary  of  Christ  knows 
no  sacrifice.  His  work  is  all  joy,  nothing  but  joy." 
Mackay,  who  has  been  called  the  *'  St.  Paul  of 
Uganda,"  wrote  these  words,  which  ought  to  in- 
spire in  us  a  deeper  consecration  to  God:  *'I 
don't  consider  it  a  self-sacrifice,  as  some  count  it, 
to  come  here  as  a  pioneer  of  Christ  and  civiliza- 
tion. I  would  not  exchange  my  place  for  all  the 
world.  A  powerful  race  here  is  to  be  won  for 
Christ,  men  are  to  be  brought  to  love  God  and 
one  another,  and  in  order  to  do  that,  institutions 
that  have  lasted  for  ages  are  to  be  uprooted,  and 
wisdom  has  to  be  implanted.  Who  would  not 
give  his  life  for  such  a  noble  work  as  that?  " 

On  October  7,  1805,  Carey,  Marshman,  and 
Ward  drew  their  famous  '*  Form  of  Agreement," 
sometimes  called  **  Carey's  Covenant,"  which  ev- 
idences their  apostolic  purpose  and  singular  con- 
secration. It  seems  to  have  been  born  from  above 
— was  inspired  by  the  Holy  Ghost.  Dr.  George 
Smith,  the  historian  of  Missions,  says  that  it  '*  em- 


LVSSONS   FROM   MASTER  MISSIONARIES.         211 

bodies  the  divine  principles  of  all  Protestant  scrip- 
tural Missions,  and  is  still  a  manual  to  be  daily 
pondered  by  every  missionary,  g.nd  by  every 
Church  and  society  which  may  send  a  missionary 
forth."  Once  a  year  it  was  publicly  read  in  every 
station,  as  a  reminder  of  missionary  vows  and  an 
occasion  for  their  renewal.  As  has  been  said, 
this  solemn  compact  sounds  like  an  apostolic  doc- 
ument; 

It  is  absolutely  necessary 

1.  That  we  set  an  infinite  value  upon  immortal  souls. 

2.  That  we  gain  all  information  of  the  snares  and  delusions 
in  which  these  heathen  are  held. 

3.  That  we  abstain  from  all  those  things  which  would  in- 
crease their  prejudices  against  the  gospel. 

4.  That  we  watch  all  opportunities  for  doing  good. 

5.  That  we  keep  to  the  example  of  Paul,  and  make  the 
great  subject  of  our  preaching  Christ  the  crucified. 

6.  That  the  natives  should  have  an  entire  confidence  in  us 
and  feel  quite  at  home  in  our  company. 

7.  That  we  build  up  and  watch  over  the  souls  that  may  be 
gathered. 

8.  That  we  form  our  native  brethren  to  usefulness,  foster- 
ing every  kind  of  genius  and  cherishing  every  gift  and  grace 
in  them,  especially  advising  the  native  churches  to  choose 
their  own  pastors  and  deacons  from  among  their  own  coun- 
trymen. 

9.  That  we  labor  with  all  our  might  in  forwarding  transla- 
tions of  the  sacred  Scriptures  in  the  languages  of  India. 

10.  That  we  establish  native  free  schools,  and  recommend 
these  establishments  to  other  Europeans. 


212  MODERN  MISSIONS. 

11.  That  we  be  constant  in  prayer  and  the  cultivation  of 
personal  religion,  to  fit  us  for  the  discharge  of  these  laborious 
and  unutterably  important  labors.  Let  us  often  look  at  Brain- 
erd  in  the  woods  of  America,  pouring  out  his  very  soul  before 
God  for  the  perishing  heathen,  without  whose  salvation  noth- 
ing could  make  him  happy. 

12.  That  we  give  ourselves  unreservedly  to  this  glorious 
cause.  Let  us  never  think  that  our  time,  our  gifts,  our  strength, 
our  families,  or  even  the  clothes  we  wear,  are  our  own.  Let 
us  sanctify  them  all  to  God  and  his  cause.  O  that  he  may 
sanctify  us  for  his  work!  No  private  family  ever  enjoyed  a 
greater  portion  of  happiness  than  we  have  done  since  we  re- 
solved to  have  all  things  in  common.  If  we  are  enabled  to 
persevere,  we  may  hope  that  multitudes  of  converted  souls  will 
have  reason  to  bless  God  to  all  eternity  for  sending  his  gospel 
into  this  country. 

The  sufferings  and  martyrdom  of  missionaries 
recall  the  age  and  Acts  of  the  Apostles.  The  pri- 
vations of  the  first  missionaries  to  Greenland  are 
almost  unparalleled,  and  their  discouragements  to 
less  heroic  spirits  would  have  been  appalling.  We 
are  told  that  they  at  times  could  only  satisfy  hun- 
ger on  shellfish  and  seaweed;  they  occasionally 
had  to  eat  the  remnants  of  tallow  candles,  and  con- 
sidered themselves  fortunate  if  they  ^*  had  train  oil 
to  mix  with  their  scant  morsel  of  oatmeal."  And 
yet  they  stood  firmly  at  their  posts  and  labored  on 
— only  at  last  to  be  richly  rewarded.  In  Western 
Greenland  it  is  said  that  there  is  not  a  single  pagan 
left.     Dr.  Kane  gave  this  testimony:   **  The  mis- 


LESSONS   FROM  MASTER  MISSIONARIES.        213 

sionaries  have  been  so  far  successful  among  the 
natives  of  Greenland  that  there  are  but  few  of 
them  who  are  not  Christians." 

Six  hundred  missionaries  sleep  in  the  soil  of  In- 
dia. West  Africa  has  been  called  the  "White 
Man's  Grave,"  but  the  deadly  climate  has  never 
deterred  brave  men  and  women  from  going  there 
to  labor  and  to  die.  The  Church  Missionary  Soci- 
ety alone  lost  fifty-three  missionaries  in  twenty 
years.  And  in  all  the  fields  they  sleep  in  honored 
graves. 

Mexico  has  been  a  field  of  blood.  Its  soil  has 
been  drenched  with  the  blood  of  martyrs.  Within 
a  few  years  not  less  than  sixty  were  brutally  slain, 
for  no  other  crime  than  telling  of  a  Saviour's  love. 

Missionaries  have  given  new  meaning  to //^^^r^^^ 
of  patient  waiting.  There  is  no  higher  expression 
of  faith  than  that  which,  having  done  all,  is  able 
cheerfully  to  stand — after  laborious  toil  can  **  stand 
still  and  see  the  salvation  of  the  Lord."  We  won- 
der at  the  sublime  hopefulness  of  the  missionaries. 

When  Judson  had  been  eighteen  years  in  Burmah 
some  one  wrote  and  asked:  *'What  of  the  pros- 
pect?" The  great-souled  apostle  replied:  '*  Bright 
as  the  promises  of  God."  To  others  it  seemed 
that  not  a  seed  would  grow,  that  it  was  all  stony 
ground.     The  heavens  shone  like  brass  upon  the 


214  MODERN   MISSIONS. 

blistered  soil,  with  never  a  cloud  so  large  as  a 
man's  hand  to  tell  of  a  coming  shower.  Yet  they 
confidently  trusted  and  patiently  waited.  It  is  a 
strange  coincidence  that  it  was  seven  years  before 
Carey  in  India,  Judson  in  Burmah,  Morrison  in 
China,  Moffat  in  Africa,  or  Henry  Richards  on 
the  Congo,  each  baptized  his  first  convert.  How 
severely  their  faith  must  have  been  tested !  Think 
of  a  husbandman  looking  anxiously  upon  the  same 
field  every  day  for  seven  weary  years  before  he  dis- 
covered that  a  single  seed  had  begun  to  germinate. 
Does  all  prophetic  and  apostolic  history  show  sub- 
limer  endurance  or  more  unfaltering  faith?  Jere- 
miah, though  given  repeated  and  miraculous  as- 
surances, became  at  times  discouraged  almost  to 
the  point  of  despair.  His  entreaties  had  been  so 
long  unheeded,  his  brotherly  sympathies  so  rude- 
ly repulsed,  and  his  solemn  warnings  so  defiantly 
mocked  and  ridiculed,  that  he  lost  hope  for  his 
people,  and  was  tempted  to  lose  faith  in  his  mes- 
sage. So  great  was  his  discouragement  that  the 
prophet  cried  out:  '*  I  will  not  make  mention  of 
him,  nor  speak  any  more  in  his  name."  But 
happily,  just  then  came  back  the  vivid  memory  of 
his  divine  call  and  consecration — of  the  blessed 
promise  of  strength  for  every  hour  of  need — and 
as  the  cloud  lifted,  he  girded  up  his  faith  and  ex- 


LESSONS   FROM  MASTER  MISSIONARIES.        215 

claimed:  **  But  his  word  was  in  mine  heart  as  a 
burning  fire  shut  up  in  my  bones." 

But  a  consecrated  missionary,  however  discour- 
aged, never  gets  to  the  point  of  despair.  He  is  an 
enhghtened  optimist.  In  all  the  East  I  did  not 
hear  a  doleful  tone  or  a  discouraging  word.  And 
those  who  had  been  longest  in  the  field  seemed 
the  most  enthusiastic.  There  was  no  undervalu- 
ing of  opposing  forces,  no  underestimating  the 
strength  of  the  enemy,  no  idle  sentiment  about  a 
millennial  dawn  without  further  sacrifice  and  strug- 
gle; but  they  firmly  believed  that  God's  endue- 
ment  of  power  would  bring  final  and  glorious  vic- 
tory. In  all  there  was  the  same  hopeful  spirit, 
the  ardent  expectation  of  a  near  and  abundant 
harvest. 

The  unfaltering  faith  of  the  missionaries  has  also 
sustained  and  cheered  the  confidence  and  hope  of 
the  Church  at  home.  It  should  be  just  the  reverse. 
The  Church  should  comfort  and  encourage  them 
amid  the  gloom  and  loneliness  of  heathen  lands. 
But  they  have  had  not  only  to  endure  the  hardness 
and  even  horrors  of  the  field — they  have  had  to 
buttress  the  faith  and  sympathy  of  the  Church. 
There  are  missions  that  have  enjoyed  Pentecosts 
of  the  Spirit,  and  become  strong,  self-extending 
centers  of  spiritual  evangelism,  which  would  have 


2l6  MODERN  MISSIONS. 

been  abandoned  had  not  the  missionary's  hope 
been  stronger  than  the  enfeebled  faith  of  the 
Church.  A  signal  illustration  comes  from  China. 
The  Church  Missionary  Society  opened  a  station 
in  the  province  of  Fuh-kien  in  1850.  Eleven  years 
passed  without  a  single  convert.  During  that  time 
of  anxious  waiting  three  missionaries  died  at  their 
posts.  In  the  tenth  year,  '*  without  one  single  con- 
version or  prospect  of  such  a  thing,"  the  home 
Board  was  about  to  abandon  the  field.  For  ten 
years  they  had  come  seeking  fruit  and  found  none. 
But  yielding  to  the  importunity  of  Mr.  Smith,  their 
only  missionary  left,  they  deferred  final  action. 
The  brave-hearted  and  Spirit-baptized  apostle, 
who  would  rather  have  been  buried  with  his  com- 
rades than  flee  the  field,  wrote  home  as  follows; 
**  I  hope  that  a  brighter  day  is  about  to  dawn  upon 
us.  There  are  three  men  whom  I  really  look  upon 
as  honest  inquirers."  Those  who  compute  the 
cost  of  converts  in  dollars  would  say:  *'  Why  this 
waste?"  After  ten  long,  toilsome  years,  and  only 
three  that  even  '*look"  like  honest  inquirers! 
But  the  heroic  missionary  had  the  full  assurance 
of  faith,  and  history  vindicated  his  fidelity.  In  1891 
there  were  8,500  Christian  adherents,  one-third  of 
whom  were  devout  communicants,  embraced  in 
their  one  hundred  and  fifty  stations  and  out  stations. 


LESSONS   FROM   MASTER  MISSIONARIES.         2l7 

Another  fact  which  indicates  the  seemingly  im- 
possible work  to  be  accomplished,  and  also  illus- 
trates the  sublime  faith  and  heroism  of  missiona- 
ries, is  the  morally  degraded  condition  of  the 
heathen.  It  is  true  that  there  is  a  natural  Sinai  in 
every  human  heart,  but  centuries  of  ignorance  and 
superstition  have  almost  entirely  effaced  the  char- 
acters written  therein.  The  difficulty  is  thus  stated 
by  David  Livingstone,  who  spoke  by  authority  of 
long  experience  and  accurate  knowledge :  ''  There 
is  a  work  to  be  done  by  missionaries  which  people 
in  Christian  lands  hardly  dream  of.  They  have 
to  create  a  moral  sense  before  they  can  appeal  to 
it — to  arouse  their  conscience  before  they  can 
look  to  its  admonitions  to  enforce  their  teachings. 
Their  consciences  are  seared,  and  moral  percep- 
tions blasted.  Their  memories  scarcely  retain 
anything  we  teach  them.  So  low  have  they  sunk 
that  the  plainest  texts  in  the  whole  Bible  cannot 
be  understood  by  them.  It  is  hard,  until  one  goes 
to  a  heathen  country,  to  realize  how  much  civili- 
zation owes  to  Christianity." 

They  have  brought  us  back  to  the  basal  fact 
that  faith  in  his  message  is  the  true  source  of  the 
preacher's  inspiration.  One  of  the  distinguishing 
characteristics  of  these  heroic  disciples,  recalHng 
and  emulating  the  missionary  zeal  and  spirit  of  St. 


2l8  MODERN   MISSIONS. 

Paul  himself,  is  their  unquestioning  faith  in  their 
message.  While  we  are  hesitant,  they  are  hope- 
ful. After  the  clearest  promise  of  our  message's 
power — that  it  is  by  '*the  foolishness  of  preach- 
ing" that  the  nations  are  to  be  redeemed,  that  the 
truth  can  make  any  man  and  all  men  free — there 
is  a  strange  skepticism  as  to  its  immediate  effects. 
There  is  not  a  confident  expectation  of  results, 
an  assurance  of  victories  gained  by  the  truth's 
simple  and  faithful  announcement.  There  is  too 
little  disappointment  if  the  power  of  conviction  and 
conversion  is  not  seen. 

Bishop  Thoburn  admits  that  the  conversion  of 
Hindoos  during  the  delivery  of  his  message  marked 
a  distinct  experience,  a  spiritual  epoch  in  his  life 
as  a  missionary.  He  said:  *' I  have  long  since 
ceased  to  marvel  at  them.  The  real  wonder  is 
that  I  should  have  preached  nearly  fifteen  years 
before  discerning  that  the  ambassador  of  Jesus 
Christ,  intrusted  with  the  ministry  of  reconcilia- 
tion, is  really  able  through  his  7nessage  to  do  that 
which  he  is  sent  to  accomplish."  That  faith  is 
the  condition  of  heroic  endeavor  and  endurance. 
Convincing  speech  is  the  inspiration  of  profound 
conviction  of  truth. 

Dean  Millman  has  truly  said:  *'No  Pelagian 
ever  has  or  ever  will  work  a  reformation.    He  who 


LESSONS   FROM   MASTER  MISSIONARIES.         2I9 

is  destined  for  such  a  work  must  have  a  full  con- 
viction that  God  is  acting,  directly,  immediately, 
consciously,  and  therefore  with  irresistible  power, 
ufon  and  through  him." 

One  of  the  four  principal  objections  to  Foreign 
Missions  is  that  *'  they  are  and  have  been  in  the 
hands  of  unfit  and  incapable  men."  If  that  be 
true,  the  Church  ought  either  to  improve  the  char- 
acter of  her  workmen  or  else  abandon  the  field. 
But  is  there  real  ground  for  such  an  objection? 
Were  those  lacking  in  fitness  and  capacity  who 
bravely  pioneered  the  cause  of  Missions  in  the  va- 
rious fields?  And  are  their  successors,  now  pros- 
ecuting the  work  so  heroically  begun,  no  better 
equipped  for  the  needs  of  such  a  stupendous  en- 
terprise ?  As  a  matter  of  fact  they  have  been  the 
great  scholars  of  the  century,  and  have  made  the 
largest  contributions  to  the  languages  and  litera- 
ture of  the  world.  The  construction  of  language 
and  estabhshing  a  literature  '*have  been  taken  in 
hand,  not  by  science^  so  proud  of  her  powers,  not 
by  commerce,  that  celebrated  civiHzer,  not  by  the 
European  colonial  poHcy,  so  much  belauded  as 
the  educator  of  barbarians,  but  by  the  despised 
mission,  wherever  she  has  planted  her  foot  amid 
barbarism." 

This  mastery  of  the  dense  ignorance  of  the  hea- 


220  MODERN  MISSIONS. 

then  is  the  monumental  achievement  of  the  mis- 
sionaries. They  have  first  to  impart  Christian 
ideas,  and  then  construct  a  language  with  which 
to  impart  them.  Such  a  task  seems  almost  hope- 
less. But  by  the  ingenuity  and  inventiveness  of 
faith  this  barrier  is  made  to  give  way,  and  in  every 
land  the  statement  is  verified:  *' The  entrance  of 
thy  Word  giveth  light."  No  wonder  Mr.  Darwin 
said:  **The  lesson  of  the  missionary  is  the  en- 
chanter's wand." 

As  to  the  fitness  and  capacity  of  missionaries,  1 
give  the  judgments  of  two  of  the  foremost  schol- 
ars, who  testify  that  which  they  do  know.  A  dis- 
tinguished scientist,  Lewis  H.  Morgan,  pays  this 
generous  tribute  to  missionaries: 

There  is  no  class  of  men  upon  the  earth,  whether  considered 
as  scholars,  as  philanthropists,  or  as  gentlemen,  who  have 
earned  for  themselves  a  more  distinguished  reputation.  Their 
labors,  their  self-denials,  and  their  endurance  in  the  work  to 
which  they  have  devoted  their  time  and  their  abilities,  are  wor- 
thy of  admiration.  Their  contributions  to  history,  to  ethnol- 
ogy, to  philosophy,  to  geography,  and  to  religious  literature, 
form  a  lasting  monument  to  their  fame.  The  renown  which 
encircles  their  names  falls  as  a  wreath  of  honor  upon  the 
name  of  their  country. 

Dr.  Cust,  in  ''The  Languages  of  Africa,"  is 
alike  generous  in  judgment: 

Let  me  turn  away  from  the  subject  of  language,  and  say 
one  farewell  word  of  the  missionaries,  those  good  and  unselfish 


LESSONS   FROM  MASTER  MISSIONARIES.        221 

men  who,  for  a  high  object,  have  sacrificed  careers  which 
might  have  been  great  and  honored  in  their  own  countries,  and 
have  gone  forth  to  live  in  hovels,  and  sometimes  to  die;  who, 
as  it  were,  in  the  course  of  their  striking  hard  on  the  anvil  of 
evangelization,  their  own  proper  work,  have  emitted  bright 
sparks  of  linguistic  light,  which  have  rendered  luminous  a  re- 
gion previously  shrouded  in  darkness,  and  their  sparks  have 
kindled  a  corresponding  feeling  of  warmth  in  the  hearts  of 
great,  and  to  them  personally  unknown,  scholars,  working  in 
their  studies  in  Vienna,  Berlin,  or  some  great  German  univer- 
sity; scholars  who,  alas!  cared  little  for  the  object  of  the  mis- 
sionaries' going  forth,  but  rejoiced  exceedingly  at  the  wonder- 
ful, unexpected,  epoch-making  results  of  their  quiet  labors. 

Mr.  Denby,  our  American  Minister  at  Peking, 
said :  '*  Believe  nobody  who  sneers  at  the  mission- 
aries. .  .  .  They  are  heroes  and  heroines  as 
truly  as  Grant  or  Sheridan,  Nelson  or  Farragut." 

The  high  character  and  consecrated  unselfish- 
ness of  the  missionaries  have  overcome  native  prej- 
udice and  won  their  admiration  for  the  Christian 
religion.  Prof.  Christleib  has  said:  *'The  moral 
influence  of  Christianity  and  Christians  in  China, 
and  also  in  India,  is  almost  wholly  sustained  through 
the  missionaries  alone." 

Addressing  a  missionary  in  India,  a  high-caste 
Hindoo  said:  ''You  missionaries  are  the  only  per- 
sons in  whom  we  really  have  confidence."  One 
of  the  most  suggestive  instances  is  the  influence  of 
Father  Swartz,  the  great  missionary  of  South  In- 


222  MODERN  MISSIONS. 

dia.  Native  princes  were  his  warmest  friends, 
and  when  all  other  foreigners  were  distrusted  and 
detested  he  was  honored  and  followed.  **  Do  not 
send  to  me  any  of  your  agents,"  said  Hyder  Ali, 
in  his  message  to  the  Council  at  Madras,  *'for  I 
do  not  trust  their  words  or  treaties ;  but  if  you  wish 
me  to  listen  to  your  proposals,  send  to  me  the  mis- 
sionary Swartz,  of  whose  character  I  hear  so  much 
from  every  one.     Him  will  I  receive  and  trust." 

As  illustrative  of  the  doctrines  and  principles 
herein  set  forth,  I  give  in  brief  outline  a  sketch  of 
a  few  devoted  and  noted  missionaries  in  the  several 
great  fields  of  the  East. 

Francis  Xavier. 

Whatever  criticisms  may  be  justly  passed  upon 
the  methods  of  Francis  Xavier  as  a  missionary, 
and  thereby  account  for  the  comparative  promi- 
nence of  his  labors,  he  must  rank,  in  spirit  and 
consecration,  with  the  greatest  apostles  of  the 
ages.  He  was  of  noble  Portuguese  birth — con- 
nected with  the  house  of  Bourbon  and  the  royal 
family  of  Navarre.  Ardently  devoted  to  Ignatius 
Loyola,  he  was  one  of  the  small  company  that  laid 
the  foundations  of  the  Jesuit  order — which,  by  the 
way,  originated  in  an  agreement  between  seven 
young  men  to  devote  themselves  to  the  conversion 
of   the   heathen  world  to  Christianity.     It  fell  to 


LESSONS  FROM  MASTER  MISSIONARIES.        223 

Xavier's  lot  to  be  the  missionary  pioneer  of  India. 
He  went  out  the  guest  of  a  viceroy,  and  clothed 
with  ample  authority,  from  both  the  pope  and  the 
King  of  Portugal.  His  zeal  knew  no  abatement 
and  his  labors  were  prodigious.  At  times  the  deg- 
radation of  the  heathen  so  overwhelmed  him  that 
he  became  the  Jeremiah  of  his  age.  '*  O  rock, 
rock,  when  wilt  thou  open  to  my  Master?"  On 
another  occasion  he  uttered  this  passionate  cry: 
*'  It  often  comes  into  my  mind  to  go  around  all  the 
universities  of  Europe  crying  hke  a  madman  to  all 
the  learned  men  whose  learning  is  greater  than 
their  charity,  *Ah,  what  a  multitude  of  souls  are 
through  your  fault  shut  out  of  heaven.'  " 

His  intense  desire  for  the  speedy  evangelization 
of  the  nations,  coupled  with  his  exaggerated  esti- 
mate of  baptism  as  a  means  of  conversion,  caused 
him  to  invoke  civil  power  to  compel  the  heathen  to 
become  Christian.  In  a  letter  to  the  king  he  said: 
*'  I  very  earnestly  desire  that  you  should  take  an 
oath,  invoking  most  solemnly  the  name  of  God, 
that  in  case  any  governor  thus  neglects  to  spread 
the  faith,  he  shall,  on  his  return  to  Portugal,  be 
punished  by  close  imprisonment  for  many  years, 
and  all  his  goods  and  possessions  shall  be  sold  and 
devoted  to  works  of  charity.  In  order  that  none 
may  flatter  themselves  that  this  is  but  an  idle  threat, 


224  MODERN  MISSIONS. 

you  must  declare  as  plainly  as  possible  that  you 
will  accept  no  excuses  that  may  be  offered;  but 
that  the  only  way  of  escaping  your  wrath  and  ob- 
taining your  favor  is  to  make  as  many  Christians 
as  possible  in  the  countries  over  which  they  rule. 
So  long  as  the  viceroys  and  governors  are 
not  urged  by  the  fear  of  disgrace  and  fine  to  make 
many  Christians,  3^our  Majesty  must  not  hope  that 
the  preaching  of  the  gospel  will  meet  with  great 
success  in  India." 

In  his  sanctified  impatience  to  give  all  nations 
the  gospel  —  feeling  his  divine  indebtedness  to 
Greek  and  barbarian,  to  the  wise  and  unwise — he 
left  India  and  sailed  eastward  as  far  as  Japan. 
His  five  years  in  that  island  kingdom  were  in  many 
respects  the  most  faithful  in  his  entire  evangelistic 
career.  From  Japan  he  went  to  China,  and  in  the 
midst  of  busy  preparation  for  what  he  thought 
would  be  the  greatest  work  of  his  life,  in  the  great- 
est mission  field  of  the  world,  he  died  December 
2,  1552,  at  Macao,  not  very  far  from  the  city  of 
Canton.  "No  companion  was  near  to  whom  he 
could  breathe  out  his  dying  thoughts,  no  priest 
gave  him  the  last  offices  of  the  Church,  or  com- 
mitted his  body  to  a  Christian  grave." 

Now  after  three  centuries  have  passed,  his  fame 
as  an  earnest  Christian  abides,  though  few  results 


LESSONS   FROM  MASTER  MISSIONARIES.         225 

of  his  labors  survive.  He  was  unwise  as  a  mission- 
ary leader,  and  had  some  false  conceptions  of  the 
best  methods  to  promote  God's  work;  but  for  pu- 
rity of  purpose,  and  saintliness  of  life,  and  earnest- 
ness of  effort,  and  restlessness  of  zeal,  he  will  ever 
deserve  to  rank  among  apostolic  forerunners  of 
this  missionary  century. 

Christian  Frederick  Swartz,  the  Apostle 
OF  Southern  India. 

As  Dr.  John  Harris  observed,  the  name  of 
Swartz  stands  for  **  might  of  character."  He 
possessed  a  singular  combination  of  qualities  for 
masterful  leadership.  Not  by  self-assertion,  but 
by  a  common  impulse  he  was  accorded  kingship 
among  men.  Amid  heathen  people,  hostile  to  his 
religion,  he  commanded  not  only  highest  respect, 
but  the  greatest  veneration,  and  everywhere  exer- 
cised almost  unchallenged  authority.  This  mar- 
velous quality  evidenced  the  striking  providence 
in  his  appointment  to  India. 

In  1726,  in  Sonnenburg,  Prussia,  a  Christian 
wife  and  mother  when  dying  thus  whispered  to 
her  weeping  husband:  ''I  have  dedicated  our 
youngest  son  to  God  for  such  service  as  he  shall 
appoint.  Assure  me  that  when  he  hears  the  Lord's 
call  you  will  not  discourage  it."  That  youngest 
son  was  Christian  Frederick  Swartz,  who  early 
15 


226  MODERN  MISSIONS. 

gave  his  heart  to  his  mother's  God.  Returning 
from  Halle,  where  he  was  educated,  he  told  his 
father  that  the  Lord  had  called  him  to  missionary 
work  in  India.  It  is  said  that  "  the  father  retired 
to  the  chamber  hallowed  by  the  mother's  saintly 
death,  and  after  three  days'  struggle  with  his 
widower-heart,  he  yielded  his  youngest  born  upon 
the  altar  of  God."  In  1750  Swartz  joined  the 
Danish  mission  at  Tranquebar,  and  began  his  won- 
derful missionary  career. 

His  linguistic  attainments  were  remarkable.  He 
had  rare  and  ready  power  for  acquiring  language. 
This  enabled  him  speedily  to  speak  in  the  language 
of  the  people,  and  gave  him  great  power  over  the 
congregations  that  gathered  to  his  ministry.  His 
first  sertnon  was  preached  in  Tamil  within  four 
months  after  landing  in  the  country.  "Father 
Swartz,"  as  he  was  reverently  called,  was  for 
years  the  most  influential  man  in  all  India.  On 
the  tablet  to  his  memory  in  the  church  at  Tajore, 
erected  by  a  native  prince,  are  these  words:  **  His 
unspotted  probity  and  purity  of  life  alike  com- 
manded the  reverence  of  the  Christian,  Moham- 
medan, and  Hindoo;  for  sovereign  princes,  Hin- 
doo and  Mohammedan,  selected  this  humble  pas- 
tor as  the  medium  of  political  negotiation  with  the 
British  Government,  and  the  very  marble  that  here 


LESSONS   FROM  MASTER  MISSIONARIES.        227 

records  his  virtues  was  raised  by  the  liberal  affec- 
tion and  esteem  of  the  Rajah  of  Tanjore,  Maha 
Raja  Sinfogee." 

In  his  letter  to  Lord  CornwalHs,  Gen.  Fuller- 
ton  says:  "  On  our  second  march  we  were  visited 
by  the  Rev.  Mr.  Swartz,  whom  your  lordship  and 
the  Board  requested  to  proceed  to  Seringapatam, 
as  a  faithful  mediator  between  Tippoo  and  the 
Commissioners.  The  knowledge  and  integrity  of 
this  irreproachable  missionary  have  retrieved  the 
character  of  Eurofeans  fro^n  t7nputatio7ts  of  gen- 
eral deprav  ity . " 

As    illustrating   the  '*  might  of   character"    all 
missionary  annals  will  sacredly  preserve  the  name 
and  fame  of  Christian  Frederick  Swartz. 
William  Carey. 

Among  the  sons  of  the  mighty,  there  is  no  no- 
bler name  than  that  of  William  Carey ;  and  through 
the  years  his  fame  will  increase,  as  men  study  the 
philosophy  of  history  and  feel  the  weight  of  char- 
acter. He  wrought  with  the  hand  of  a  master, 
and  his  works  do  follow  him. 

Born  in  poverty  and  obscurity,  at  sixteen  ap- 
prenticed to  a  shoemaker,  at  which  trade  he 
worked  for  twelve  years,  and  with  very  few  edu- 
cational advantages,  there  was  no  prophecy  in  his 
circumstances  of  the  wide  sphere  that  he  was  to 


228  MODERN  MISSIONS. 

fill,  and  the  world-wide  honor  that  he  was  to  re^ 
ceive.  Over  the  door  of  his  humble  cobbler's 
shop  was  this  sign: 

'*  SECOND-HAND   SHOES   BOUGHT  AND   SOLD." 

But  from  the  day  of  his  conversion  the  Holy 
Spirit  set  the  seal  of  a  great  commission  upon  his 
soul.  Out  of  a  full  heart  he  talked  for  his  Lord. 
His  cobbler's  bench  became  a  village  pulpit,  and 
soon  the  people  began  to  wonder  where  this  young 
man  had  learned  so  much  wisdom.  Yielding  to 
the  call  of  God,  he  forsook  his  trade,  was  ordained 
to  the  ministry,  and  accepted  a  small  pastorate  with 
the  meager  stipend  of  only  fifteen  pounds  a  year. 

His  thoughts  soon  turned  to  the  needy  in  hea- 
then lands.  Reading  Cook's  ''Voyages,"  which 
gave  graphic  descriptions  of  the  horrid  superstitions 
and  utter  degradation  of  heathen  peoples,  stirred 
his  great  soul  to  the  depths.  This  gave  him  a  new 
interpretation  of  the  great  commission,  and  broad- 
ened  the  horizon  of  his  faith.  He  saw  the  duty  of 
the  Church  in  a  new  and  broader  light. .  To  him,, 
further  neglect  was  sin,  and  sin  unto  death.  He 
appealed  to  fellow-Christians,  only  to  be  rebuffed 
and  ridiculed.  In  a  ministers'  meeting  in  North- 
ampton he  was  rebuked  for  his  impertinence  to 
God  and  his  providence.  He  was  ordered  to  his 
seat  for  presuming  to   question   the    councils   o£ 


LESSONS  FROM  MASTER  MISSIONARIES.        229 

God.  But  nothing  daunted,  he  persevered,  or- 
ganized a  society  for  the  evangelization  of  the  hea- 
then, and  became  its  first  missionary,  sailing  from 
England  June  13,  1793. 

He  found  a  cold  reception  in  Calcutta.  The 
East  India  Company  refused  him  the  protection  of 
the  British  Government,  so  after  a  time  he  had  to 
move  out  to  Serampore  and  work  under  the  folds 
of  a  Danish  flag. 

The  diligent  student  became  a  great  scholar, 
the  master  of  Oriental  languages.  He  was  **  the 
Wickliffe  of  the  East,"  being  the  first  to  translate 
the  Bible  into  the  Bengali  language ;  and  with  his 
oyvn  hand  he  translated  the  Scriptures  into  Bengali, 
Sanskrit,  Hindoo,  and  Marathi.  He  also  super- 
vised the  translation  into  other  languages,  until 
twenty-eight  versions  were  issued  from  his  press  at 
Serampore. 

The  once  despised  missionary,  by  the  force  of 
his  character  and  his  extraordinary  labors,  com- 
manded great  influence.  He  was  invited  into  the 
faculty  of  the  College  of  Fort  William  as  professor 
of  Sanskrit,  and  became  the  trusted  counselor  of 
the  Governor  General. 

All  of  his  salary,  except  a  few  pounds  on  which 
to  subsist,  was  scrupulously  devoted  to  the  exten- 
sion  of  Christ's  kingdom.      As  evidence  of  the 


230  MODERN  MISSIONS. 

world's  acknowledgment  of  its  debt  to  this  genius 
and  saint  of  God,  Bishop  Thoburn,  in  a  public  ad- 
dress, thus  referred  to  the  great  missionary  pio- 
neer: "During  a  residence  of  a  dozen  years  in 
Calcutta,  I  met  many  tourists  from  England  and 
America.  Among  them  all  I  recall  but  one  who 
wished  to  see  the  house  in  which  Macaulay  had 
lived;  one  asked  to  see  the  house  in  which  Thack- 
eray had  been  born;  and  two  or  three  inquired  for 
the  residence  of  Warren  Hastings.  But  literally 
scores  upon  scores  have  asked  to  be  led  to  the 
grave  of  William  Carey,  and  the  little  burying 
ground  in  the  old  Danish  settlement  of  Serampore 
has  become  like  a  pilgrim's  shrine,  to  which  Chris- 
tian men  and  women  come  from  all  parts  of  the 
world." 
Adoniram  Judson,  the  John  the  Baptist  of 

BURMAH. 

Adoniram  Judson  was  the  William  Carey  of  the 
American  Church.  He  had  as  little  encourage- 
ment in  entering  upon  his  missionary  career  as  did 
the  *'  consecrated  cobbler"  of  England.  It  was  a 
little  volume  by  Claudius  Buchanan  entitled  *'  The 
Star  in  the  East,"  that  kindled  the  fire  in  his  heart 
which  at  length  drove  him  over  the  seas  to  Bur- 
mah.  On  his  way  across  the  Atlantic  he  was  cap- 
tured by  a  French  privateer  and  confined  in  pris- 


LESSONS   FROM   MASTER   MISSIONARIES.        23 1 

on  for  awhile  at  Bayonne.  But  this  never  for  a 
moment  chilled  his  ardor  or  suggested  a  change 
of  purpose.  He  was  offered  a  pastorate  in  Bos- 
ton, and  urged  by  his  mother  to  accept;  but  it  had 
no  temptation  for  a  heart  set  on  the  salvation  of 
heathen  nations. 

He  expected  to  labor  in  India,  but  Providence 
directed  his  steps  to  Burmah  so  clearly  that  he 
could  not  be  mistaken.  Indeed,  every  event  in  his 
most  eventful  life  seemed  to  be  a  signal  provi- 
dence, and  every  step  was  ordered  of  the  Lord. 

With  perfect  reliance  upon  God  when  a  deplet- 
ed missionary  treasury  promised  him  scant  sup- 
port, and  with  unruffled  courage  in  presence  of 
every  conceivable  danger,  that  man  of  destiny  pur- 
sued his  unwearied  course  in  laying  the  founda- 
tions of  Christ's  kingdom  in  a  far-off  heathen  land. 
His  labors  were  prodigious,  and  his  works  do  fol- 
low him. 

A  memorial  tablet  in  the  Baptist  Church  at  Mai- 
den, Mass.,  contains  this  beautiful  inscription: 

IN  MEMORIAM. 

Rev.  Adoniram  Judson, 

Born  August  9,  1788. 

Died  April  12,  1850. 

Maiden  his  Birthplace, 

The  Ocean  his  Sepulchre; 

Converted  Burmans 

and 

The  Burman  Bible 

His  Monument. 

His  Record  is  on  High. 


232  MODERN  MISSIONS. 

When  Adoniram  Judson  died  there  were  over 
seven  thousand  Christians  in  Burmah,  in  sixty- 
three  churches,  and  under  the  oversight  of  one 
hundred  and  sixty-three  missionaries,-  native  pas- 
tors, and  helpers.  The  lessons  in  Judson's  mis- 
sionary career  are,  the  directness  of  his  divine 
call,  the  frequency  of  providential  interposition,  the 
heroism  of  an  apostolic  faith,  and  the  marvelous 
fruits  of  consecrated  toil. 

Henry  Martyn. 

For  unreserved  and  unselfish  consecration  to 
God  no  apostle  of  the  early  Church  ranked  Henry 
Martin,  of  Cornwall.  When  the  call  came  to  a 
chaplaincy  in  India,  he  immediately  accepted  and 
uttered  these  words,  which  were  the  secret  benigni- 
ty and  the  serene  contentment  of  his  short  career: 
*'  I  see  no  business  in  life  but  the  work  of  Christ, 
neither  do  I  desire  any  employment  to"  all  eternity 
but  his  service."  On  arrival  at  Madras  en  route 
to  Calcutta,  after  a  tedious  voyage,  and  much  of 
it  devoted  to  the  sick  and  dying  among  passengers 
and  crew,  he  wrote:  **  O,  if  I  live,  let  me  have 
come  hither  to  some  purpose." 

Arrived  at  Calcutta,  he  soon  overtaxed  his  frail 
body  in  order  to  keep  pace  with  his  consuming 
zeal.  The  hours  of  the  day  were  all  too  short  for 
him  to  master  the  Hindoostanee  language,  and  oth- 


LESSONS  FROM  MASTER  MISSIONARIES.        233 

erwise  be  equipped  for  direct  evangelistic  work. 
The  wretched  condition  of  the  people  almost 
crushed  his  sympathetic  heart.  He  says:  '*  I  lay 
in  tears,  interceding  for  the  unfortunate  natives 
of  this  country,  thinking  within  myself  that  the 
most  despicable  sudra  of  India  was  of  as  much 
value  in  the  sight  of  God  as  the  King  of  Great 
Britain."  In  the  largeness  and  tenderness  of  his 
noble  heart  he  sought  to  rescue  a  Hindoo  widow 
from  sacrificing  herself  on  a  funeral  pyre  beside 
her  husband.  The  scene  sickened  him,  and  he 
said  that  he  '*  shivered,  standing,  as  it  were,  in  the 
neighborhood  of  hell." 

The  breadth  of  his  brotherhood  and  the  ardor  of 
his  sympathy  expressed  itself  in  these  words :  **  Let 
me  never  fancy  I  have  zeal  till  my  heart  overflows 
with  love  to  every  man  living." 

He  had  a  discussion  with  a  Brahman  over  an  idol 
worship,  in  which  he  made  this  comment:  "I 
learned  that  the  power  of  gentleness  is  irresistible." 

After  spending  a  day  in  hard  labor,  distributing 
tracts,  preaching  the  gospel,  and  writing  on  a 
translation  of  the  Scriptures,  the  heavy-laden 
heart  penned  these  words:  '*  I  was  much  bur- 
dened with  the  consciousness  of  blood-guiltiness; 
and  though  I  cannot  doubt  of  my  pardon  by  the 
blood  of  Christ,  how  dreadful  the  reflection  that 


234  MODERN  MISSIONS. 

any  should  perish  that  might  have  been  saved  by 
my  exertions !  " 

He  translated  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer  into 
Hindoostanee,  and  wrote  a  commentary  on  the 
parables  in  that  language.  His  labors  were  pro- 
digious; his  liberality  onty  limited  by  his  resources. 
He  supported  five  schools  out  of  his  own  pocket. 

This  entry  appears  in  his  diary:  "  I  have  read 
and  corrected  the  manuscript  copies  of  my  Hin- 
doostanee Testament  so  often  that  my  eyes  ache. 
The  heat  is  terrible — often  at  98° — the  nights  in- 
supportable." That  version,  written  with  the 
heart's  blood  of  that  frail  young  man,  is  still  do- 
ing God's  work  in  India. 

He  spent  some  time  at  Dinapore,  and  afterwards 
in  Cawnpore.  His  health  began  to  rapidly  fail, 
but  he  girded  up  strength  to  complete  his  Persian 
New  Testament.  In  order  to  its  perfect  accuracy, 
he  went  to  Persia.  There  he  completed  also  a 
translation  of  the  book  of  Psalms.  En  route  to 
Europe,  overland  through  the  country,  he  died — 
died  rejoicing  in  Christ  his  Lord. '  His  biographer 
says  truly:  **  The  symmetry  of  his  statue  in  Christ 
is  as  surprising  as  its  height.''^ 

James  Calvert. 

One  of  the  most  notable  figures  in  missionary 
history  is  James  Calvert,  the  Wesleyan  apostle  to 


LESSONS   FROM   MASTER  MISSIONARIES.         235 

the  Fijis.  His  character  was  as  robust  as  his 
faith  was  strong.  His  courage  was  never  daunt- 
ed, and  the  conscious  presence  of  his  Lord  was 
the  inspiring  experience  of  every  eventful  day 
among  the  cannibals  of  the  Pacific.  If  Christ 
ever  indicates  to  his  Church  the  men  he  has  des- 
ignated for  hazardous  posts,  it  was  clearly  mani- 
fest in  this  courageous  missionary  to  the  races  in 
the  Southern  seas.  A  man  of  less  physical  and 
spiritual  vigor  would  have  shrunk  from  the  dan- 
gers and  horrors  that  made  up  the  thrilling  experi- 
ences of  each  day.  He  foiled  the  plans  of  many  a 
**  cannibal  despot,"  often  defended  the  defense- 
less by  his  brave  expostulations,  and  frequently, 
by  almost  reckless  daring,  rescued  '*poor  women 
and  children,  already  doomed  to  be  strangled  or 
clubbed  to  furnish  the  cannibal  feast." 

And  yet  so  cloudless  was  his  faith  and  so  great 
his  joy  in  God's  service,  that  he  seemed  oblivious 
of  personal  peril  and  unconscious  of  the  weight  of 
his  burdens.  Indeed,  in  a  review  of  those  early 
missionary  years,  he  said:  **  We  had  no  night  of 
toil;   God  was  with  us  from  the  first  and  all  along." 

He  saw  those  cannibal  islands  so  thoroughly 
Christianized  that  when  he  closed  his  great  career 
there  was  scarcely  a  Fijian  home  in  which  was 
not   daily  heard   morning    and    evening   worship. 


236  MODERN  MISSIONS. 

James  Calvert  illustrates   the   lofty  courage    and 
perfect  consecration  of  a  pure  faith. 
James  W.  Lambuth. 

Into  this  list  of  worthies  I  introduce  the  name 
of  James  W.  Lambuth,  for  thirty-three  years  a 
missionary  in  China,  and  six  years  a  successful 
toiler  in  the  Empire  of  Japan.  He  illustrated  the 
possibility  of  entire  self-abnegation  and  perfect 
consecration  to  one  divine  purpose.  Though  not 
so  richly  endowed  as  some  master  spirits  in  the 
mission  field,  and  unequal  to  others  in  vast  attain- 
ments, it  is  doubted  if  the  canonized  roll  of  God's 
great  pioneers  contains  a  saintlier  character  than 
James  W.  Lambuth.  No  dangers  daunted  his 
courage,  no  difficulties  swerved  his  sanctified  pur- 
pose, and  no  trials  weakened  his  indomitable  will. 
From  the  hour  he  heard  the  Lord's  call  to  the 
mission  field  down  in  his  Mississippi  home,  to  the 
day  his  beautiful  life  peacefully  closed  in  Kobe, 
Japan,  he  could  repeat  the  words  of  Count  Zinzen- 
dorf:  *' I  have  but  one  passion:  it  is  He,  only  He." 
So  transparent  was  his  character  and  so  translu- 
cent his  simple  faith,  that  the  native  Christians  of 
Kobe  said:  *'  He  is  our  father,  and  we  want  him 
for  our  model." 

His  intense  ''soul-loving  spirit"  made  him  a 
tireless  worker  and  gave  him  a  tongue  of  fire.     It 


LESSONS   FROM  MASTER  MISSIONARIES.        237 

is  doubted  if  in  the  same  length  of  time  any 
preacher  at  home  or  abroad  ever  preached  so 
many  sermons.  Others  have  had  more  eloquent 
lips,  but  there  was  never  a  more  earnest  tone  or 
yearning  heart.  And  no  prophet  of  God  ever 
had  more  absolute  faith  in  his  divinely  given  mes- 
sage. He  always  expected  immediate  results. 
And  both  in  China  and  Japan  many  were  the 
trophies  of  his  consecrated  ministry. 

Dying  with  a  heart  burdened  for  the  redemption 
of  the  heathen  nations,  his  last  words  were  an  ap- 
peal to  the  Lord  of  the  harvest.  He  said:  *'  I 
die  at  my  post — send  more  men." 

Hon.  Ian  Keith-Falconer. 

Few  men  have  ever  illustrated  the  divine  law  of 
service  more  beautifully  and  perfectly  than  the 
Hon.  Ian  Keith-Falconer.  His  days  were  short, 
but  his  influence  will  abide  through  the  eternities. 
He  was  of  noble  ancestry.  Son  of  the  Earl  of 
Kinton,  it  is  said  that  he  could  trace  his  lineage 
back  through  the  stormy  periods  of  British  history, 
**  past  the  standards  of  Bruce  and  Wallace,"  back 
to  the  year  loio,  in  the  reign  of  Malcolm  II., 
King  of  Scotland,  when  in  a  battle  with  the  Dan- 
ish invaders  Robert  Keith  won  by  valor  the  title 
of  Hereditarv  Great  Marshal  of  Scotland. 


238  MODERN  MISSIONS. 

This  young  man  was  born  in  1856.  He  loved 
the  Scriptures  from  a  child.  His  old  nurse  tells 
of  his  going  among  the  cottages  of  the  peasants 
soon  after  he  was  seven  years  old,  reading  the  Bi- 
ble and  trying  to  explain  it. 

He  was  athletic,  six  feet  three  inches  tall,  and 
fond  of  manly  sports.  As  President  of  the  London 
Bicycle  Club,  he  was  champion  of  all  England. 

Engaged  in  mission  work  in  East  End,  London, 
and  soundly  converted  to  God,  he  heartily  gave 
£2,000  thereto  himself.  He  studied  the  Semitic 
languages,  giving  Arabic  chief  attention,  and  spent 
a  winter  in  an  obscure  place  in  Upper  Egypt,  in 
order  to  get  the  colloquial  and  study  the  temper 
of  the  Arabic  mind,  and  the  nature  of  Moham- 
medan religion. 

He  located  at  Aden,  Arabia,  only  twelve  de- 
grees from  the  equator.  As  many  as  a  quarter  of 
a  million  camels  come  into  Aden  every  year  from 
the  interior.  This  gave  him  access  to  the  interior. 
Near  there  he  established  a  mission  and  hospital. 
He  studied  medicine  himself,  that  by  this  means 
he  might  fine  readier  entrance  into  the  heathen 
heart.  Although  he  bore  the  entire  expense  of 
the  mission  himself,  he  put  himself  under  the  di- 
rection of  the  Foreign  Missionary  Agency  of  the 
Church  of  Scotland. 


LESSONS   FROM   MASTER   MISSIONARIES.        239 

His  vast  linguistic  attainments  led  to  his  being 
elected  Professor  of  Arabic  in  Cambridge.  As 
this  required  only  a  few  lectures  during  the  year, 
he  accepted ;  but  most  of  the  twelve  months  were 
laboriously  devoted  to  mission  work  in  Arabia. 
In  the  midst  of  elaborate  plans  for  the  erection  of 
additional  buildings,  this  consecrated  young  no- 
bleman fell  asleep — "quietly  slept  out  his  life 
while  those  who  had  been  watching  at  his  bedside 
slumbered  with  him." 

His  last  appeal  to  men  of  wealth  and  culture 
at  home  contained  these  words:  *'  While  vast  con- 
tinents are  shrouded  in  almost  utter  darkness,  and 
hundreds  of  millions  suffer  the  horrors  of  hea- 
thenism or  Islam,  the  burden  of  proof  lies  upon 
you  to  show  that  the  circumstances  in  which  God 
placed  you  were  meant  by  him  to  keep  you  out  of 
the  foreign  mission  field." 

His  death  was  seemingly  a  great  calamity.  But 
God  knows  best.  The  call  for  a  volunteer  to  take 
his  place  was  responded  to  by  tJm'teen  yowig  fnen 
from  the  graduating  class  of  New  College. 

But  time  would  fail  me  to  tell  of  Robert  Morri- 
son, the  pioneer  of  China  and  the  first  translator 
of  the  Bible  into  that  difficult  language ;  of  Robert 
Moffat  and  David  Livingstone,   and  their  heroic 


240  MODERN  MISSIONS. 

labors  in  Africa ;  of  Alexander  Duff,  who  laid  the 
foundation  for  a  new  educational  policy  in  India; 
and  of  Bishop  Hannington,  the  latest  martyr  to 
Africa's  redemption,  who  said  to  his  executioners: 
**  Go  tell  Mwanga  that  I  die  for  Bagarda,  and  that 
I  have  purchased  the  road  to  Uganda  with  my 
life."  This  martyrdom  and  dying  declaration  re- 
call those  beautiful  words  of  Bishop  Alexander  in 
characterizing  the  death  of  John  the  Baptist: 
*'  The  mutilated  body,  stretched  upon  the  thresh- 
old of  Christianity,  only  marks  the  via  dolorosa^ 
over  which  the  whole  army  of  martyrs  have  passed 
to  their  crown."  The  lessons  of  these  and  many 
other  apostolic  lives,  of  whom  mention  cannot  be 
made,  will  be  an  inspiration  to  the  Church  through 
all  the  militant  centuries. 

A  noble  company !  May  we  be  worthy  of  such 
a  heritage  of  divine  achievements  !  Of  these  apos- 
tolic spirits  and  their  successors,  we  may  say  in 
the  fine  lines  of  Matthew  Arnold : 

"There  in  the  hour  of  need 
Of  your  fainting,  dispirited  race, 
Ye  like  angels  appear! 
Languor  is  not  in  jour  heart, 
Weakness  is  not  in  jour  word, 
Weariness  is  not  on  jour  brow. 
Ejes  rekindling,  and  prajers 
Follow  jour  steps  as  je  go. 
Ye  fill  up  the  gaps  in  our  file, 
Strengthen  the  wavering  line, 
Stablish,  continue  our  march — 
On,  to  the  bound  of  the  waste — 
On  to  the  Citj  of  God." 


Princeton  Theological  Seminary  Libraries 


1    1012  01234  7482 


Date  Due                       1 

Ap8     '4( 

f) 

'■!^\M 


vM3 

'  ;iSii 


:.mmm 


■;^.»;:;;iHk-f-t;Ji.i^ 


. >'.     I'-;!'-''?'  t/v •.••■>; ■■^'if'' 

■   ."'     ^r':.'.  j<vv.  iVvj.r .  /•^Cij^ 


fHif 

":^WF?'^^?;«'- ■■■■;■■ 


's'liiii^V,-^^^^^'  Jiiii 


